Life Is A Highway
by lunastars
Summary: A collection of fics prompted and inspired by the music I listen to. Rated M just in case but generally K-M. Mostly Dotty, but may look at different pairings and the team as a whole occasionally. (All of them will be unrelated, and will focus on any of the films.]
1. Fast Car

**A/N: **_Hey there, this is a little collection of songfics, each chapter will be a different song (and will all be unrelated). At the beginning of each chapter there will be the main snippet of the song that inspired the fic. Also, they won't all be Dotty ones, they'll just be Fast and the Furious in general._

* * *

"You got a fast car  
But is it fast enough so we can fly away  
We gotta make a decision  
We leave tonight or live and die this way."  
**Fast Car - Tracey Chapman  
**

* * *

Dom's POV

I waited by my car just outside of the school. I didn't miss the place a single bit, the day I turned eighteen I just counted down the days 'til I could leave. Now two years later here I was not regretting a thing. I was working at the garage with Dad and Vince, a nice little set up. We didn't earn much but I didn't mind. I even agreed that my wages me cut slightly so Vince could have extra. I didn't really need the money but Vince was practically on his own, he deserved to have a little extra.

Eventually Mia came bounding out of school. How a fourteen year old could be so happy about school I didn't know. Six years apart and her liking school was still one of the biggest differences between us. She walked over happily to me, her books piled high in her hands, no doubt her bag was also filled with them too. I took them from her and put them into the back seat, once she was in I returned to the front of the car.

"Aren't we leaving?" she called out of the window.

"What about Letty?"

"Oh." I could see from the scared look on her face that she'd done something that she shouldn't have.

I went over and looked through the open window at her. "Where's Letty?"

"Dom, you haven't picked us up from school for weeks… I… She didn't want you to know… Any of us, but she had to tell me."

"Tell you what, Mi?"

"She quit school."

"She _quit_ school?"

"Yeah, dropped out," Mia whispered. "It's all official."

"Why would she do that? She was going to graduate in a couple of years then come work with us at the garage."

"I don't know what to tell you Dom, she wouldn't tell me why just that she had to."

I just nodded and got into the car, I had to get Mia home then go get Letty. I needed to know why she had just left school. Like Vince and I she hated it but she was determined to finish. She wanted to graduate with decent grades then move onto the garage, maybe start her own one day once she acquired the experience. So why did she just up and quit?

When I dropped Mia off I helped her inside with her books and left her to do her homework. I made sure to remind her to call us if she needed anything and one of us would come over as soon as possible. After I was sure that she would be OK I left the house. I knew Vince and Dad would be waiting for me but I had to find Letty.

A quick glance at her house told me that she wasn't in, her car was gone. I wandered over there anyway, maybe her parents knew. Maybe being the operative word, her parents never noticed much. I hardly ever saw her Mom and her Dad was a drunk. Probably the nicest drunk I ever met but still a drunk.

I knocked loudly on the front door and few minutes later her Dad came to the door, bottle in one hand. "Dominic!"

"Erm… Hi, sir, I was wondering if Letty was in?" Yeah, definitely the nicest drunk I'd ever met.

"Oh, she's working."

"Working?" I asked confused. "Where?"

"Convenient store," he slurred. "Can't remember the name."

"The one near the gas station?"

"Think so," he shrugged.

"Are you sure Mr Ortiz?"

He shrugged again but this time some of his drink spilled onto the floor. A pout formed as he looked down at the floor. "Aw."

"Go inside, Mr Ortiz, you've been a big help."

"Oh, good!"

I watched as he wondered back in. When I was sure he was back in his chair I shut the door and headed back over to mine. I felt bad for him really. He'd got hurt while serving overseas. His left arm doesn't function too well and he walks with a limp. It used to be a lot worse, a chance that his leg might be useless. So he drank to get over it and was never able to stop, even after a few AA meetings.

When I got to my car I didn't hesitate to get in and get to that convenient store. The whole journey I thought about how I would react when I saw her there. Even if she left school why didn't she just come and work with us? I mean sure Dad had wanted us all to finish school but he would have made an exception for Letty, she was family. When I arrived I just walked in, not wanting to over think it too much.

"Let?"

She was behind the counter. The place was empty, a couple of shoppers near the back but other than that it looked like it had been empty for hours. She looked bored to say the least. When she looked up at me, she looked shocked.

"Dom?"

"I came to pick you guys up from school, but according to Mia you quit."

"She doesn't know I work here," Letty ground out. "Who else did you talk to?"

"Your Dad." She closed her eyes and gave a slight nod. "How long after you been working here?"

"About a month."

"Why?"

"Mama left."

I frowned. I barely saw her so I guess I never noticed. "When? Why?"

"Little over a month ago," she whispered. "See when Dad started drinking we accepted it but then it got to the point where he said his body was too old to work, so he just stopped trying to find any. I think he's too young to be like he is but there's no getting him out of it. Anyway, Mama wanted more than what we had so she just left."

"And you started working here?"

She nodded. "And started looking after him when I could."

"Why didn't you come and talk to us?" I whispered.

"He's my Dad," she said sternly. "It's my job to look after him, not yours."

"But we could help," I urged. "You look tired, and even though your Dad is nice I know it can't be easy."

"Just don't Dom, I'll look after him."

"Fine, then at least hang out with me at some point?"

"Excuse me?"

"Let me hang out with you, take your mind off of things."

"When?" she asked uneasily.

"When do you work?"

"When I would be at school."

"OK, this Saturday I'll pick you up from your house, make sure you're ready."

"What time?"

"It'll be a surprise," I called behind me as I left the store.

* * *

Letty's POV

I was more shocked that Dom actually turned up on Saturday. When I turned sixteen a few months back I could see him change towards me. He was actually willing to hang out with me rather than just putting up with me. We flirted more than we should have and like the hopeless girl that I probably was I longed for more, prayed that it might finally happen.

He had just taken me to the arcade the first time, then next the beach and it just kept going. Something slightly different each time. It was my highlight of the week, 'til four months later when I turned seventeen and he threw me a party. Just family but a party nonetheless, during which he had pulled me away and told me that he needed me, that he wanted me to be his, we'd been inseparable ever since. It was probably the highlight of my year. I hoped to return the favour in a few more months when Dom's twenty-first came around.

"What are we doing today?" I asked as he dropped by for our usual Saturday. I still worked in the convenient store and looked after my Dad but I let Dom help out a little with money and such.

"Something we should have done a long time ago," he smiled. "Keep it simple."

"What is it?"

He just took my hand in his, squeezing it for a moment, and leading us over to his car. He helped me into the passenger seat before going round to his side. As we pulled away and sped off down the road I tried to think of what it could be. Could there be anything more simple than what we'd already done?

As we reached the water front I was sure we were going to the beach but he kept on driving. He wound down all the windows and I felt the wind rush through the car as he got faster and faster. Luckily the roads were quiet so there was just us. There was silence apart from the sound of the wind whooshing through and all I could smell was the sea. I closed my eyes and let my arm dangle out of the window, feeling it push through the wind.

Working as a check out girl as a convenient store didn't seem so bad in that moment. I was under contract so I had to stay. I'd be close to eighteen by time I'd finished but if I renewed my contract I'd get a chance to be promoted. Seen as Dom didn't earn much I could use the extra money, maybe I could save up and get us away from here. At least for a bit.

Admittedly I got angry with Dom, which was for very poor reasons but at the time I didn't think like that. Before I agreed that he could help he would go out to the bar when he could with Vince. It was usually with the racers, of course he stopped with chasers when we started dating but it still bugged me. But he stopped after he realised I needed him, and he did things like driving nearly eighty along the seafront with the windows wide open.

"Where are we going?" I yelled over the noise.

"Into the fancy part of town," he grinned. "Figured we could get lunch."

I smiled back as we crossed over what we dubbed the boarder. In no way was our area of town damaged but it wasn't exactly upper class either. The half of the town on the other side of our border had the fancy hotels, the clubs where all the celebrities had been noticed and the overpriced shops and restaurants. We'd made the joke about having the border when we first wandered into that part of town and tried to order a cheap burger from somewhere.

"You're paying," I warned.

He only chuckled and pushed the pedal harder.

* * *

_Five months later…_

"Letty if you don't come out right now I will break this door down," Mia warned.

"Go away," I screamed back.

"The boys and Dad will be back soon, just open the door."

"The boys and Dad will be back soon," I imitated, taking on a childish tone.

"For an eighteen year old you're not very mature! It's hard to believe that you'll be nineteen in a couple of months."

"Exactly, I'm an adult, so piss off and leave me alone," I ground out. I knew sixteen year olds were meant to be stubborn, hell, I was one once but Mia just took it to a whole 'nother level.

"Is it your Dad?" I froze at that but refused to answer, which seemed to be what prompted her to continue. "Let, it's only been four months, it's understandable if you're still upset."

Dad made a promise to quit on my eighteenth but he suddenly fell ill. When I took him to the hospital it turned out he needed surgery, his liver was packed in. Unfortunately I wasn't a donor and he had to give up drinking for a certain amount of time before he got on the donor list. We lost hope about two months later when we'd all been tested (and weren't a match) then four months after that he died.

"I'll get Dom," she whispered.

I knew she didn't mean it as a threat, she honestly thought it would help me. It was weird to think that I had turned eighteen ten months ago and that Dom and I had been together almost exactly a year longer that than. I had convinced myself that Dom would get bored but he never did. He'd really stepped up to the plate.

"Don't," I mumbled back. I lent against the door, losing the will to fight with her anymore.

"Letty, please," she begged. "We were talking and you just ran off. Was it something I said?"

"No," I whispered.

"Because if you don't want me to talk about Brad anymore, I won't," she promised. "It must be hard seen as you can't talk about Dom properly with me. Not like I do with you about Brad anyway."

I opened the door just enough so I could see her. "I like it when you talk about Brad, you seem happy whenever you do."

"Then what was it? I don't think I talked about anything else... Are you sure it's not your Dad?"

"I screwed up," I mumbled, leaning my head against the door frame.

"Let me in or come out, we can talk."

"No, I just need to pop out for some things and I'll be fine."

"Then come on out..."

"Go away first," I said wearily.

"No," she said stubbornly.

I went to push the door shut again but her hand shot forward to stop me closing it properly. She was a lot stronger than I remembered as she pushed the door back against me. I moved away quickly as she entered. I settled my hands on the sink and looked down at it, refusing to look at her. She walked quietly over to me.

"You're pale," she commented.

"I need to go to the drug store."

"Are you sick?"

"Depends how you feel about the problem," I whispered.

"Well what is the problem?"

I finally caved, it was hard to fight when she was right there. "I'm late."

"For what?" I didn't say anything and soon realisation hit her. "_Oh_."

"Well, it doesn't mean anything."

"I'm never late, Mi."

"First time for anything," she whispered. "If I were you I would go and get a test."

"Do you fancy driving me?"

"Maybe Dom should go with you..."

"No," I insisted. "He's stopped going to the races as much, he never goes out, he's given up so much for me recently. He's only just getting back into the swing of things, I don't want to pull him out of that before I'm sure."

"But Let..."

"Mia, please."

"Oh, OK, but no matter what the results you'll have to talk to him."

"After, I promise."

* * *

"You've been quiet for the past couple of days," Dom commented as he walked in his room. I took refuge in their a lot lately even though Mr T had insisted I have my own room. "And you've barely gone near me."

"That's not true," I whispered.

"Don't do that," he groaned. "I just want to know why. Mia's been shifty too, has something happened?"

"She says I need to talk to you, I guess I've been so nervous about how to bring it up that I just... Avoided you."

"Talk to me about what?"

I looked away as he came over to sit beside me. "About a week ago I was late..."

"For w- _Oh_."

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Are you...?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I took two tests but one came up positive and the second negative."

"Why didn't you take a third?"

"I didn't think they were too reliable," I chuckled lightly. "I'm going doctor's tomorrow to get checked over."

"Why so late?"

"I had to sort it around work and I wanted Mia to come with me, it's the only day it worked for both of us."

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked angrily.

"I didn't know what to say, I was going to talk to you after I was sure if I was or not," I whispered.

"You should have told me as soon as, doesn't matter if you are or not."

"What difference does it matter if I told you before or after the test?"

"Because it's something I need to know," he ground out. "And when you go and get the test... If you found out you were, when would you told me?"

"I don't know, Dom, it's not exactly an easy topic to bring up."

"Why not? Am I really that hard to talk to?" he demanded. He grabbed me in an attempt to make me look at him. "Am I so difficult that my own girlfriend can't even come to me? This concerns me too, Let!"

I kicked out. "Because you'd leave me!"

I felt him tense before his grip on me loosened, I scrambled off the bed and ran to the door. "I wouldn't..."

"What?" I stopped with my fingers on the handle.

"I wouldn't leave you... Why would you think that?"

"You're all about family, Dom, but you're still not that sort of guy... I see you at the races, those after parties, you're not the Dad type," I whispered. "Not right now anyway, and probably not in nine months either if I am pregnant."

"Let..."

"While I was waiting for those tests I thought about how we could have something better than all this, that we could move away and be happy," I explained. "But then when I knew I had to go to the doctors I remembered how much you love the life you already have. Suddenly in my head you saw your friends more than me and the baby, suddenly we didn't matter and things were all horribly wrong."

"It will never be like that," he promised.

"But it could be," I sighed. "So yes, I would have taken a while to tell you if I was or not."

"Well, no matter what the results, you need to tell me," he whispered. He was suddenly behind me. I hadn't even heard him move. "I'll even go with you if you want me to, but I know it might be easier with Mia there."

"You don't have to do this," I mumbled. "I'm probably not."

"Hey, I've got something that will cheer you up."

"What?" I asked, more to humour him than anything else.

He grabbed my hand and led me out of the room. He grabbed our coats on the way down the stairs and out the front door. When we got to his car he threw our coats on the backseat before helping me into the front. Once we were in he sped off down the street. I looked confusingly at him 'til he opened all the windows and I smiled, a smile which kept growing as we hit the sea front.

"How fast should we go?" he yelled.

"Fast enough so we can fly away," I grinned.

"And go where?"

"Anywhere, just some place better." He pushed on the pedal in response. "Wait, I was joking."

"I'm not, we should leave now, at least for a while," he mused. "If we don't we never will."

I nodded at him and kept my focus on the road ahead. I let my arm dangle out of the window like last time as my eyes fluttered shut. I knew this was Dom's way of proving that he loved me and no matter what the doctor said it wouldn't change anything. I felt his hand on the top of my leg and I imagined that we were flying.

* * *

_Wow, a lot longer than I meant it to be... But I'd love to know what you all thought... :)_

_R&R_


	2. If These Sheets Were State

**A/N: **So, this didn't turn out anything like I expected. It's inspired mainly by the three lines below (which is most of the chorus) but other lines and certain words were used as prompts. If you haven't heard this song before then seriously go and listen to it. It's amazing!

* * *

"If these sheets were the states, and you were miles away,  
I'd fold them end over end to bring you closer to me.  
Because I don't sleep at all without you pressed up against me."  
- **If These Sheets Were States, All Time Low**

* * *

I rolled over and patted the space around me, coming up empty yet again. I'd done the same thing every day for the past three weeks. Ever since Letty had moved away. Before I would be able to reach out and feel her there, pressed up against me, but now it was empty and cold. I closed my eyes trying to remember what mornings with her had felt like.

I kicked the covers off of me angrily and stormed into my small bathroom. Things had been perfect, better than I ever expected them to be between us then her Mum took her away. I would kill to have just one more day with her but I shouldn't have to. Sixteen and her Mum had practically dragged her. Shouldn't she have had the choice?

Every part of the house seemed to remind me of her, hell, most of LA reminded me of her. In the bathroom I remembered the spots where her things would be kept, and how she would use my deodorant because she'd always forget to bring some over. The bedroom was worse she had her spot in every inch of it. She had claimed half of my desk, a draw, half of my wardrobe, one of my shelves and half of the bed. Her Mum would never let her move in permanently so she would bring stuff over bit by bit and slowly move in. We'd gotten nearly half of her favourite things over before she moved. Now that she had taken it all my room looked half empty.

Whenever I went into Mia's room I remembered how Letty would go in there when we fought, in the living room I remembered her favourite spot on the couch and how she would steal the remote. Whenever I went into the kitchen I would remember how she would race me to get the best bit of bacon. Outside the house was the worse, it proved I couldn't escape. I remembered the past at the garage, the beach, the park, the mall, the diner, the arcade and every other fucking place I took her to.

After I got dressed I wandered downstairs. I fingered the cross she had bought me, it always also brought me back to Earth. I would do anything to have her back, but for now I settled for the long distance calls and the possibility of maybe seeing her at least once a month if I could afford it.

They were in the DR so getting there would be cost me no matter what method I took. Dad and her Mum agreed that I could if I could pay for it. With my wages it would take me weeks to save up meaning that the once a month might be dreaming a little big. Plus, it wasn't just travel expenses. I'd have to take money to give to her Mum for letting me stay and then extra to take Let out. Dad had said he would pay for me to go out on our anniversary, maybe even my birthday.

I collapsed onto the couch and let myself become lost in the memory of the last time she was here.

* * *

_*flashback*_

_"She's such a bitch," Letty growled._

_I sat on the bed, back against the headboard. I watched her as she paced around the room, angrily kicking things as she went. She had ran into my room shouting all the odds and I didn't stop her, I knew not to when she was on a roll. I got the gist of what was going on. She was moving._

_"Where is she taking you?"_

_"The DR, where else?"_

_I nodded. "Yeah, makes sense... Do you have to go?"_

_"She's not giving me a choice, I love it out there but I don't want to live there right now," she groaned. "I've tried everything to be left behind."_

_"Like?" I smirked._

_"Told her about you guys," she started. "Hid my passport, tried to change the plane tickets to just one, barricaded myself into my room, attempted to runaway-"_

_"You tried to runaway?" I questioned._

_She nodded. "I was hoping she'd leave without me."_

_"So what happened?"_

_"She caught me trying to sneak out," she muttered. "She took my car from me!"_

_I chuckled. "Well, can you blame her?"_

_"Dom this is serious!" she snapped._

_I stopped laughing instantly as she stopped pacing. "Yeah, I know."_

_"Well it doesn't seem like you do."_

_"I'm just trying not to think about it," I admitted. "You don't understand how much this hurts me too."_

_"I don't want to go without you," she mumbled sadly._

_"You know I'd go with you but I can't," I sighed. "Are you sure she won't let you stay?"_

_She nodded. "What do I do? What do we do?"_

_I eyed her suspiciously. "What do you mean _we_?"_

_"Well I'm going to need your help-"_

_"No," I cut her off. "You meant it differently."_

_"Don't be mad," she whispered. "But are you really going to stay with me? I mean, maybe for a little bit but in a few weeks? Months? I love you but you're not the sort for long distance, hell I don't know if I am. And sure we could see each other but with money it would be rare. People my age don't get paid that much money. And the garage doesn't pay you much."_

_I sat up a little straighter. "Well, we'll both have to get used to it. Just keep talking to your Mum about moving out back here. If I have to I'll look for jobs out there, and an apartment, and I'll move out there if it comes to it."_

_"Dom," she chuckled._

_"I'm serious."_

_"Oh..." I smiled at the stunned look on her face. She rolled her eyes before continuing. __"But what do we do in the mean time?"_

_I thought about it for a moment. I honestly didn't know but then a thought struck me. I pushed my covers off of the bed. "There's a black marker on the desk, grab it for me."_

_She did it, suspicion etched over the face, and came over to give it to me. I crossed my legs then pulled her down to sit in my lap. I took the pen from her and drew to "X"'s on my white sheets._

_"Dom!" she yelped, clearly startled. "Your Dad is going to kill you, that will never come out."_

_"So?" I smirked. "Just shut up and listen."_

_"Fine," she mumbled. "But I don't understand."_

_"You will... Now this is you." I wrote her name under one "x" before writing my name under the other. "This is me."_

_"Right..."_

_"This is the DR." I drew a circle around her "x" before drawing a circle around my "x". "And this is LA."_

_"So what? You're reminding me how far away we're going to be?"_

_"Nope." I pulled the sheets so they pinged off three of the corners._

_"Dom?" she questioned thoughtfully._

_"It looks far, even on sheets, doesn't it?" She nodded, running her finger from one "x" and circle to the other pair. I grabbed the sheets and folded them over and over 'til her "x" and circle but right next to mine. "Doesn't seem so far away anymore now does it?"_

_She smiled. "No, we're right next to each other again."_

_I nodded. "Exactly."_

_"I still don't get the point... We can't just folded the world over and put us together."_

_"No," I agreed. "But we can make the distance seem less just as easily."_

_"How?" she whispered._

_"I'll call you at least every other day," I promised. "Whenever I see something that reminds me of you I'll buy you it still and just send it instead of giving it to you. Hell, I'll even write you a letter once a week, or once every two weeks, just so you can have something to go over. On top of that I'll visit you whenever I can, and you can always come here. Hell, if you're Mum allows it we can meet in the middle for a few days. There's plenty of things we could do to make the time go faster."_

_"So, tell me if I got this right?" I watched her as she straightened the sheets out. "You call me every couple of days." She folded the sheet only slightly so we were still far away. "You send me things." She folded the sheet ever so slightly again. "You write me a letter." She folded the sheet again. "And we continue this." She folded again. "Doing different things." She folded again and this time we were side by side. "'til the pain goes away, at least for a little bit and it doesn't feel any different?"_

_"Yeah," I smiled. "It'll make the time between visits seem less so as well."_

_"That's so ridiculous," she chuckled. "But can you believe that it's actually helping a little?"_

_I kissed her cheek. "I hope so, I've just ruined my sheets for this."_

_I could practically hear her eyes roll. "You're own fault."_

_"I'm glad it helps," I told her seriously. "I' don't think either of us is naive, of course it's going to hurt and it's going to be horrible. We may even both develop doubts, might only be for a second but they'll be there. I just want you to know that it can be that easy for us to get through it. Because I love you and I know we can get through anything."_

_"Ride or die?" she whispered._

_"Ride or die," I agreed._

* * *

I got up off of the couch as I recalled how happy she had seemed. It was the last time I saw her but she kept on smiling all because I had drawn a couple of "x'" and two circles on my bed sheets. Sheets which Dad found and went mental about until I told him the story. I moved to the phone and started to dial as soon as I picked it up. I held it to my ear and waited. My eyes lingered on the set of photos on one of the shelves. There was a picture of Let and I, and another with Dad, Mia, Vince, Letty and I. In the second one Letty and I were on opposite sides, it was back when I found her annoying, she was about twelve in it I think. Whereas in the one of just us we had our arms around each other and were kissing.

"Hello?"

I jumped a little as her voice came out from the other end. "Hey."

"Dom?!" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah," I grinned. "Don't sound so surprised."

"I wasn't expecting you to call today," she explained. "Isn't this the first day at the garage with just you and Vince?"

"Yeah, but I don't need to be there for a while so I thought we could talk."

"Oh." But I could hear the smile in her voice. "I missed you, y'know?"

"Yeah baby," I agreed. "I missed you too."

I leaned back against the wall as she started to babble on. I closed my eyes and imagined us sitting together on my bed. As she spoke on the phone the Letty sitting on my bed with me talked. I could see the smile I knew was there, the way her hands would flail about to emphasize what she was saying and how she would glance over at me sometimes to check I was still listening. I could already feel the sheets folding over, us getting closer together as the pain in my heart dulled ever so slightly.

* * *

_R&R_


	3. Just Give Me A Reason

**A/N: **I have no idea why but I thought of Vince and Mia when listening to this song. There's no specific age but it's before the first film. I always get the feeling they dated for a bit but it ended (and Vince never got over it). I was going to do Pink's part as Mia and Nate's part as Vince but I switched it up a little. Also the tone and ending came out a lot differently to what I was expecting. But hey, the song is awesome and your reviews would be awesome too!

* * *

"_Just give me a reason  
Just a little bit's enough  
Just a second we're not broken just bent  
And we can learn to love again  
It's in the stars  
It's been written in the scars on our hearts  
We're not broken just bent  
And we can learn to love again"  
_**- Just Give Me A Reason, Pink feat. Nate Ruess**

* * *

Thinking back, it's hard to imagine the times when I turned Vince's advances down. I couldn't remember all the times I had said no to his proposal of a date, I couldn't remember all the times I'd laughed off his compliments and I couldn't remember all the times I'd awkwardly got out of the situation whenever he brought up the fact that he liked me. But things changed. Things always change.

I remembered telling him that he stole my heart and when he gave the most horrific expression as a response I let him know that I was more than willing to let him have it. It became clear to me that right from that very first moment that I gave in I was hooked. I only agreed to one date just to humour him, to prove that we wouldn't work but we did. At least back then we did.

I saw the side of Vince that he called 'unpretty' but they were pretty, at least to me. They were proof that he was here. He told me about his past – his dad leaving, he told me about his life of crime before my Dad helped to straighten him out, he told me everything about his past that he was afraid I'd hate but I didn't. I just felt sorry for him, sad for him, I wanted to _help_ him. And I did just that. He did the same for me. Although my problems were nowhere near the extremes that his were he still listened and he still helped. It was then that I realised that he'd always helped me.

But things changed, he changed. He was out more often at the races and the parties. Sometimes I wouldn't see him for days. With my Dad's house rules it was hard to sneak into his room and vice versa so if I didn't get a change to be alone with him while Dad was gone then it was rare. Him being busy all the time didn't help. He stopped answering my calls a lot of the time and even my texts. At first I put it down to work but then I only called on his breaks and it was never every day seen as I already technically lived with him. Then even in his sleep he changed. He would start talking and moving about like something was bothering him. Seemed normal until I found out that he'd never done anything like that before.

I started to worry, I meant to confront him but never could. Part of me just wanted to say he had had enough of us and as time went on I was sure he would. Now, three months later I was finally picking up the courage to ask him. Considering we lived together I rarely saw him. The twenty minutes or so at dinner with everyone there and then _maybe_ during the day at the weekends. Dad had even been lenient to let me stay in his room over the weekends (probably because he and Dom were both at home) but most weekends I'd go to bed alone and wake up with an empty one too, the only indication that it had been slept in was the ruffled sheets.

"Earth to Mia!"

I shook my head from my thoughts as I looked up at Vince. I was sat on his bed and he was stood at the end watching me. "What?" I mumbled.

"I knew you weren't listening," he sighed.

"When did you come in?" I questioned.

"About ten, fifteen minutes ago." He watched me suspiciously. "Where's your head at girl?"

"Give me a reason, V," I whispered.

"A reason for what?"

"A reason for why I should still be with you."

His eyes bulged. "Because you love me… Don't you?"

"I do," I agreed. "But I don't think that's enough anymore."

"Don't be silly," he growled. "You love me and I love you that's reason enough."

"You're right that should be reason enough." I looked down at my hands, fiddling with them slightly. "But we're broken, V, you have to see that."

"Whoa, whoa, wait up." He came to sit down on the bed in front of me. "We're not broken."

I glanced up at him. "Then what would you call this? 'Cause we haven't been the same for almost three months now."

I could see the realisation hit his face. "Okay, I understand what you're getting at but we're not broken. We're just… We're just _bent_."

"You mean we're not in love like we used to be." I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cry.

"We can learn to love again," he promised. "We're meant for each other Mia and you know that. In your heart you know that. Both of us were torn when we first got together but now we're not. We need each other, I promise we can learn to love again."

"No we can't," I whispered. "It's too late for that."

He fisted the bed sheets angrily. "I don't understand why you're saying this all of a sudden. I know we haven't been perfect lately but I thought we were fine."

"We were," I agreed.

"Then you must be going crazy or something because we still are," he argued. "Maybe not as perfect but we're still good. Well we're definitely not bad enough for us to be talking about ending things."

"This is happening whether you believe it or not, Vince."

"I don't understand why," he mumbled.

"Do you know how many weekends there's been where I might as well have slept alone? Friday nights and Saturday nights I get the change to share a bed with you with no arguments from Dad and for the past three months there's been no point, I should have stayed in my own room." His eyes stayed on me, watching uneasily. "When you used to sneak into my room you'd hold me close to your chest and wouldn't let me budge even the slightest. Now when I get you in the same bed I'm already asleep and you're gone when I wake up. And it's not just that Vince , you're never here. When was the last time we went out on a date? When was the last time we spent any time together besides dinner and a few minutes during the day at the weekends? You're never around and I feel like I don't have a boyfriend anymore. I'm not asking you to give up everything and be with me, I'm just asking for a couple of nights with you at least. Maybe I never made that clear. But have asked you this before."

As I stopped I realised I had started to cry. He reached across and wiped them softly away. From the look on his face I knew what had been eating away at me for the past three months had finally hit him. I was partly to blame. I never told him out right. After about three works of realising things weren't going to magically get better I had suggested some ideas for dates so I could see him but he had always been busy with other plans. After a week or two of coming up with a different suggestions each day I gave in, I just kept my mouth quiet. I guess I hoped that he would realise and change. We were young after all, and young people do stupid things whether they meant to or not.

"I'll change." I could hear the desperation in his voice. "I'll take you out more. I can't always promise I'll be in bed before you fall asleep both nights because of races but at least one I'll try to be there. I'll change and I'll be there for you more, like I used to be."

"There's no point." The tears kept on coming but I smiled up at him. If he wasn't always trying to be such a man I'm sure he would have cried too. "I could fix all our kinks and wipe away all the tears but at the end of the day we're going to start collecting more and more dust until it's too late."

"But we love each other, that's enough to get us through," he disagreed.

"You're holding it in, you're just trying to hide and not face up to this," I told him softly.

"Nothing is as bad as it seems," he argued. "You'll see, we'll come through this. It'll be like things are brand new, you'll see."

"I still love you, I never said I didn't," I mumbled. "But can you really honestly give me a reason to stay? Or a reason why you should?"

"Plenty," he said sternly.

I shook my head. "No you can't and that scares you. I want to end this now before our friendship gets spoiled too. I want you in my life forever, V, and I can see now that friendship is the only way to do that."

"I don't want to lose you."

"If we do this then you won't."

I watched him as he worked it over in his head. I could see him slowly agreeing with me. He seemed to understand that I wasn't ending this because I didn't love him but that I was ending it because I did. There was no way I was going to end this in another three months and lose him as a friend at the same time. God knows that I blamed myself for this as well, probably more than I blamed him.

He only nodded his agreement of our relationship ending. I tried to smile and not cry as realisation seemed to hit us both. Vince slowly crawled across the bed as a few tears let slip. He gently held onto me and laid us both now. I snuggled into him for what would probably be the last time for a long time.

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_R&R_


	4. Promiscuous

**For FaStandFurious123  
**Thank you for the song suggestion and I really hope that I've done it justice. **  
**_(Note, in this fic Letty is 17 and Dom is 20.)_**  
**

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"_Promiscuous girl  
Wherever you are  
I'm all alone  
And it's you that I want  
Promiscuous boy  
You already know  
That I'm all yours  
What you waiting for?"_  
**- Promiscuous, Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland.**

* * *

If anyone had the ability to throw someone off it was Dominic Toretto, but tonight he was failing miserably at it. Because that was definitely what he was doing, I could tell by the way he was watching me protectively like he always did and how his hand twitched into fists whenever I got a little too close to a guy. Then when those methods didn't work he found his own girl to put me off that way. I wasn't stupid, we'd been dancing around each other for months now and there was no way in hell that I was gonna make the first move.

I grabbed the next guy I decided I wanted to dance with. Normally at the race after parties I'd stick with Mia and drink until she got bored and disappeared upstairs to her room. Then I'd dance with a few regulars or stick to the playstation, but not tonight. I could tell Mia was going to snap sooner or later if Dom and I didn't stop with our little games so tonight was going to be the last one, he was going to make the first move without any room for argument.

As I finally got into a rhythm with this guy I heard a cough from behind me. I knew exactly who it was and I ignored it. When the guy went to move, clearly afraid, I pulled him back. I placed his hands on my hips as I moved them. When I was sure he wasn't about to move I gripped his shirt lightly and held him close. The cough instantly turned into a growl and I tried my hardest not to chuckle as a response.

Suddenly a hand gripped my arm and I was being dragged away. I pouted at the sudden movement but kept my mouth shut as Dom dragged me through to the semi-quiet kitchen. When we got there he let go of me but only after he had me trapped between him and the counter.

"Problem?" I couldn't help but grin up at him.

"You're driving me crazy, Let," he groaned.

I looked pass him for a moment before glancing back at him. I shrugged ever so slightly. "I was only dancin'."

"I wasn't talking about the dancin', Let." His eyes scanned over me slightly, _gotcha_. "Well not entirely."

It was funny. He seemed to be lost for words and whenever the words did pop out of his mouth they seemed like a struggle. And about time too. I remembered when we had first met when I was about ten and he was thirteen. Of course he wasn't interested but I was interested in him. And the first time we spoke I was completely lost for words, I'm sure to this very day that I looked like a complete idiot.

"Then what were you talking about?" I wrapped a bit of his shirt around my finger, pulling him ever so slightly closer to me.

He gulped but with an instant he had his composure back. "You're different tonight, more deliberate."

"And that's driving you crazy?" I teased. "How am I _more deliberate_?"

He groaned, clearly not wanting to have this conversation, the conversation that technically he had started. "The dancing… With all those guys."

"Struggling for words, Dominic?" I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face. It was nice to make Dom feel uncomfortable for once, nice to make him squirm.

"No." He cleared his throat. "I know you like to dance, I know you can dance. But you've never danced like _that_ before. Especially not with a different guy for every song that played. The last time you danced like that with someone you liked them, and I hope to God you don't like all them."

I ran my finger up and down his chest slightly. "You jealous?"

"No." _Liar_. "You're just not like that, not like them."

My eyes sought out the chasers that he referred to. At least he could tell the difference between me and them, at least he didn't like the idea of me being like them. Although, I'm not entirely sure if that thought made me feel more or less confident in my little game.

"I might not be as much of a good girl as you think," I told him.

I watched as he bit his bottom lip carefully, eyes roaming over me again. "I'm sure I'll find out by the end of the night."

I laughed. "Cocky."

"Confident," he corrected.

I rolled my eyes at him before pushing him away. I could feel his eyes on me as I headed back into the living room, grabbing another Corona on the way out. I'd barely taken a drink from it when I spotted someone new to dance with. I'd already danced with him before, I'm sure his name was Danny, and I figured it would be fun to see how Dom would react if he thought I had a few favourites in the crowd.

I almost laughed out loud as I looked over Danny's shoulder to see Dom had already grabbed a girl to dance with, his eyes watching me. I settled for sending him a small smirk before I focused back on Danny. I danced as close to him as possible without having fear of tripping over. Poor kid was drooling within the first thirty seconds of the song.

As my dancing progressed I stayed near Danny but pulled back slightly enough so I could move a lot more freely. A couple of times I chanced a look at Dom. By this point he was practically just standing still and letting that chaser dance around him. His eyes were narrowed, watching me carefully. My only response was to move my hips a little more slowly, more dramatically.

This time when he came and pulled me away from dancing he took me towards the back door. I watched his back with amusement as he dragged me outside and around the house to where none of the party-goers were.

Before I even had time to make a joke or tease him he had me up against the wall. His lips came crashing down on mine a second later. His body pressed up against mine as his hands ran up to tangle themselves in my hair. Ialmost groaned at the sudden contact but I wasn't about to give him that satisfaction just yet.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and allowed his tongue entrance as it gently probed my bottom lip. My mind was almost lost in a haze of passion until one of his hands moved to tug at the bottom of my top. He moved to lift it up slightly but I pulled away.

"Let," he groaned, leaning his head on my shoulder.

"You expect me to just _let_ _you_ get that close?"

"Why wouldn't you?" he mumbled against my neck.

I smiled slightly at that. Truth was I was more than ready to get that close, but it was too much fun to see him work for it. "I'm not _them_, isn't that right? So how do I know that I'll be different, that you'll actually still _respect_ me afterwards?"

He lifted his head to look at me, his face inches from mine. "I can try if you give me a chance."

I may not be the first to admit out loud that Dom was irresistible in any situation, especially this one. But I'd definitely be the first to admit out loud that right now I was curious as to whether Dom could hold down a relationship and treat me right in the morning if I was to take him upstairs this very second.

I licked my lips slowly. "I'm not sure I want to."

He groaned and rested his forehead gently in the crook of my neck. "You having fun teasing me?"

"I don't know what you mean," I said, feigning innocence.

He nibbled my neck suddenly and I cursed myself for letting out a slight gasp. He looked back up at me, his body pushing back against mine again. "You know what I want and I know you want it to. So why not let me give you what I know you need?"

"Whoever said chivalry is dead?" I laughed. "Where are my red roses? Or my diamonds?"

"You'd laugh in my face if I did that," he said seriously. "So I wouldn't get you any."

"It's a good thing you're cute, Toretto."

He grinned like he'd just won the fucking lottery. "So then what do you say?"

"I'm a big girl," I told him. "But maybe if I get lonely I'll give you a call."

He growled slightly at that. "Scared?"

"What do you take me for?" I laughed.

"Then what are you waiting for?"

His eyes were boring into mine now and I refused to look away. "Just trying to figure out if you can work me the way you think you can, I don't wanna waste my time after all."

"No more playing games anymore, Let." I gulped slightly at how serious he seemed. "We're one of the same you and I. You know I'm good for you just like you're good for me. It's you that I want Letty, not them. I want you forever."

I actually laughed at his expression. He backed away slightly, clearly thinking I'd just found his confession hilarious, but I didn't. It was a God send to hear, it was the situation I found hilarious. "Dom, you already know I'm yours."

He stood there, shock etched across his face. I pushed passed him and walked away. As I reached the edge of the house I turned back to him and breathed out, "what are you waiting for?" before I turned the corner and headed back inside.

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_R&R_


	5. Here Without You

**A/N: **_Set after Fast Five when Dom still believes Letty to be dead._

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_"__I'm here without you, baby  
But you're still on my lonely mind  
I think about you, baby  
And I dream about you all the time  
I'm here without you, baby  
But you're still with me in my dreams  
And tonight, girl, its only you and me."  
_**- Here Without You, 3 Doors Down**

* * *

It's hard to remember how many days have passed exactly, all I know is that the days are in their hundreds and I feel old. Consistency seemed to be a growing thing in my life. First my Dad dies and I feel myself getting older as the days pass, and just for a moment the pain stops when I took that wrench to Kenny Linder's head and the punishment of prison that followed seemed to make the days go slower. And now she's gone. I took that car to Fenix and in prison I ended up. Although this time I didn't stay, so the days still passed at alarming rates and I continued to feel much older than I actually was.

With Dad it was hard to forget. Although Mia looked like Mom more I could see him in her, and all those photos that were around. I had time to imprint him in my mind, but with Letty there was nothing. We got out of LA so fast that I had no time to find anything that reminded me of her. All I had was this cross but every day I could feel myself forgetting her face bit by bit. I kept lying to myself, telling myself that I didn't care, that I wasn't bothered, but I was. No matter what sort of act I put on for the family it scared me to think that one day I might not even be able remember what she looked like or even what she sounded like.

I know I shouldn't think about it. I should just let time take its course and if I forget I forget. I'd still remember _her_ and everything we did together. But miles just kept forming between me and my memory of her 'til the point came when I was unbearable, and I knew I was. They all deserved better, and even though I knew they needed me I still seemed to dig myself further into that whole of self pity. Until I realised how much _they_ had changed. Mia was always distant, Brian had no fight and Elena would keep to herself. At least for them I had to change and my mind finally helped me. Each night I dreamed of her. Sometimes it was just her, standing there, or even sitting, just so I could remember what she looked like. I would study each feature in detail and bit by bit that image of her in my mind came back to me and those miles that been made to separate us disappeared.

I knew I'd always be here without her but that didn't stop her from staying on my mind. Even with these dreams I couldn't go a single day without thinking of her and even with Elena I hate to say it, but I was lonely. Until I can see her again I'm sure I'll always feel empty, there's no coming back from this now. But for now I have a life-line, seeing her in my dreams keeps me going even if it's only just. And every night I know it's only her and me, as soon as I close my eyes she's with me and suddenly things don't seem so horrific.

Every time I knock those miles out of the way they keep on coming back, but distractions help, I guess. The people around me take their time to do their part. We help each other. I remember her telling me that life is overrated and that's why we risk ours on a daily basis, well, she's right. But maybe I believe her now because she's not in it. The only thing I can hope for is that it gets better.

No matter how many times I tell myself she's never coming back, and no matter how much in my life changes, it's still hard to accept it, even if I do want life to get better. I know that even if I decide to stop this torture and be completely happy it will never take away my love for her because I'll never be able to stop. I ruined my last and only chance. When the last will in me to fight dies and everything is finally at an end I know that the one thing that will survive the war is my love for her. Whether she's here or not.

It doesn't matter what happens. She's with me every single night in my dreams. She's constantly on my lonely mind. Whether she knows it or not, I think about her all the time. It's hard to think that I'm here without her but having her in my dreams keeps me alive for now, and every night it's just me and her.

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_R&R_


	6. Impossible

This is for LouisianaBastard.**  
A/N: **_It's not really what I expected but I guess I'm pretty happy with it. Also, when I wrote this I was listening to the James Arthur version, but that version or the Shontelle version will work if you want to listen to the song too. I recommend listening to both, it's the same lyrics but the sound is completely different. i really love both versions myself._

* * *

_"I remember years ago  
Someone told me I should take  
Caution when it comes to love  
I did"  
_- **Impossible, James Arthur**

* * *

Brian's POV

I sat at the end of the bed watching Mia pace around in front of me. We'd successfully broken Dom out of the prison bus and were now sat in our bedroom at the safe house. Well, I say our room, it was hard to tell. Mia and I "made up" but with the Braga case then breaking Dom out straight away, we never really had that much time to talk about us. But now we had that time to talk. At least for the next three days until we had to leave for the next place. And it was clear that it was having its tall on us, neither of us were prepared for this talk.

"Are we crazy here?" she asked suddenly as she stopped and turned to face me. "I mean, you screwed up big time in LA and I never really got over you. Is falling in love with you all over again really the answer?"

I thought about it for a moment. I'd had the same questions myself. Were either of us ready for this? But then I remembered something I was told a long time ago and then I remembered how amazing it felt to be with Mia.

"I remember something I was told," I whispered to her. "It was years ago, I think I was about fourteen actually. I got my first real girlfriend but I wasn't quite sure what was happening, how I was feeling, The one piece of advice I got was to be cautious when it comes of love."

"And were you?"

I nodded. "And that's why I know I'm not just going to jump back into this relationship if I wasn't sure. I mean, things moved a little fast the first time in LA but I honestly thought that through too."

"No, I practically threw myself at you in the end," she muttered before sitting on the bed beside me. "I'm was pathetic and weak, I still am."

"Mia, you're the strongest person I know," I told her honestly. "I'm the one that was pathetic and weak."

"Bri…"

"No, let me get this out," I sighed. "I was so delusional to think that I could have you and my job, it was the biggest mistake of my life. I guess I forgot what it was like to be in love and that just clouded my better judgement."

"Why didn't you come and talk to me afterwards?" she mumbled.

"I had to get out of town," I sighed. "And what more was there to say? I ruined your family's life. You were gone and it seemed like it was such an easy job for you to just slip out of my life, effortless even and I knew you won."

"I won?"

"I assumed you hated me, and I figured that that would make it easier for you to move on from me, to fall out of love," I sighed. "But I knew it wouldn't be that easy for me."

"Well how do you feel now?" Mia asked quietly. "About me, about us?"

"I think I'm even more in love with you than I thought I was," I told her honestly. "I really just want to tell everyone I meet how much I love you. Shout it from the highest rooftop, write in the sky and let people know that I was happy back then but I'm even happier right now."

"I don't think I ever felt that way about someone before," she admitted. "I don't think I've ever had my heart broken that much either."

"I wish I could take it all back," I told her. "I never wanted to hurt you, but we're being honest with each other now. I thought getting you back would be damn near impossible but look at us now."

"I never did fall out of love with you." She smiled up at me before taking hold of my hand. "I tried but it was too hard."

"Falling for me when I was lying to you must have been worse." I tore my eyes away from hers but kept a hold of her hand. "I broke your heart and your trust."

"I know," she agreed. "And I also know that you think this is It but we can build that trust again, and we've already got a start on the love thing."

"I don't want to give you anymore empty promises."

"Then don't."

"But what if I can't keep the ones I make?" I asked her seriously. "You're smart, you're funny, you're beautiful. You're probably the most amazing person I've ever met and I'm so scared to mess this up again."

"You done embarrassing me now?" I smiled a little and gave her a slight nod. "Good, now why don't we go and shout it from the highest rooftop, write in the sky and let people know how happy we are?"

"Seriously?"

"My heart is still a little broken I guess but I'm ready to talk about it, to get through it," she shrugged. "This all thing seemed impossible but here we are."

I glanced at her. She was right. I didn't expect her to love me like she did or trust me properly, at least not yet. I hoped to God that she would be able to soon, that things would go back to how they were between us, only better. I thought about what I was told all those years ago. I thought being cautious when it came to love meant be on guard constantly, but now I know that it doesn't. Now I should be cautious for both me and Mia, that I should be cautious just enough to keep us together, to keep us safe and that was exactly what I planned to do.

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_R&R_


	7. Fix A Heart

**A/N: **_I love, love, love this song and Demi Lovato so I just had to do it. Here's a little look at Letty's feelings while she's playing dead._

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_"Baby, I just ran out of band-aids_  
_I don't even know where to start_  
_'Cause you can bandage the damage_  
_You never really can fix a heart."_  
**- Fix A Heart, Demi Lovato**

* * *

What do you do when the anger slips away? Because when I decided to keep the fact that I was alive a secret I'll admit part of it was out of anger. I was angry mostly at Dom for leaving when he promised me that he wouldn't. Brian was a cop, Jesse was dead, Vince was in trouble and Leon was God knows where after we separated in Mexico. Mia was the only one who I was willing to tell but could I make her keep that secret? So I kept my mouth shut, too angry to run back to him again, but then the anger drifted and staying dead just became something I'd grown used to. I told myself countless times that maybe doing this was what was best for Dom, that now I wasn't angry anymore, doing what was best for him was all that I wanted.

Back then I used to think that I wasn't the best but that was tough luck, he was stuck with me and stuck in the situation we had because I wasn't going to leave. But then I did. I tried before that day to sever the ties, I tried when all that shit went down in LA but I ended up failing, and miserably so. I had to bind the wounds I'd created and deal with them. Then he kept messing up. He never came to Mexico half as much as he said, he went off the grid and he left me in the DR. It was like those wounds that I'd made couldn't heal properly because of him, like he was pouring salt in them.

Over time I just ran out of the ability to even clean up the mess. Any sane person would have just left the first time, but I continued to let him hurt me and disappoint me. Don't get me wrong, Dom's good side completely outweighed the bad. He did more good for me than he did bad. But the DR was the final straw and when I had that accident it was a way out, a chance to escape him without having to convince myself to go back to him, because no matter how many times I tried to cover up all the damage I know for a fact that if I had gone back to him after the DR my heart wouldn't have even stood a chance of getting fixed.

Back then I knew keeping my death status was wrong, but then how could I be so sure? Dom was never one to shout about his feelings, he spoke in code and you had to learn to unlock it in order to understand what he was trying to tell you. But on the beach in the DR he did open up, well opened up as much as Dom ever could. Knowing that he left when he said he wouldn't makes me wonder if he meant any of what he said though. I remember holding his hand and pleading with him that this was no different, that I was safe with him. And I could see he wanted to fight but he was losing the will to do so. I guess all he needed was more time to just heal after everything that happened and maybe I just pushed it at the wrong time. Maybe that's why now I still won't tell him the truth, because I know he still needs to heal some more.

Now the anger was gone and I was left with… Nothing. No feelings, nothing, just emptiness. I no longer had a way to bandage up the pain I was feeling and I can't even begin to start on life now, on my feelings for Dom or the team in general. I know now that you never really can fix a heart. And I think of all those times that Dom acted like he was some kind of miracle worker, swearing that he could fix what he broke and I would beg myself not to get my hopes up because he never did. I guess now I understand that it wasn't because he didn't want to but that because he couldn't.

Then I'm reminded of how he didn't exactly help. He didn't even try to stop hurting me in the first place, he continued to do it a second time, a third time, a fourth… He knew he was capable of it and although he couldn't change the mistakes he made, he still continued to do it. I could only imagine what I'd say to him if I saw him now. _No, no, baby, tell me how could you be so cruel?_

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_R&R_


	8. Give 'Em The Boot

**A/N: **_I'm guessing that most of you won't know who Cata9tales are… If you do then omg I love you and let's be friends! I love them so much, if you want to listen to their music you can find some of their songs on youtube and all of them on spotify. As for the song, it was mostly how I felt while I listened to it that made me write this but some of the lyrics did help._

_This is set when Dom comes home after finding out about Letty, however it includes flashbacks of their time together. Those flashbacks are in italics. Also, the flashbacks aren't in chronilogical order._

* * *

_"I'm a mess and I confess__  
__I see the devil in the corner and she's in a blue dress__  
__So cheers, salute, give 'em the boot__  
__Hellhound on my trail in hot pursuit__  
__I'm on my knees, it's easy to see__  
__I see the devil in the corner and she's looking at me__  
__So cheers, salute, give 'em the boot__  
__Gonna meet my maker in a three-piece suit"_  
**- Give 'Em The Boot, Cata9tales**

* * *

The phone call had been hard enough but going home was worse. I always had that thought in my mind that if I went home she'd be there but now if I ever went home she wouldn't be. I'd never see her again, and that idea was hard to swallow. The house hadn't changed, Mia had grown up but was pretty much the same, the neighbourhood was pretty similar to how it had been too. But Letty wasn't here. And that change was the most dramatic, the one with the most consequences. When I managed to sneak into the house with the help of Mia I went straight to our old room and sat quietly on the bed, thinking about her.

_I stepped forward. Vince was working out, taking a few rounds in the ring with his trainer. He always teased me about being too chicken to get in the ring myself. So I did. I was ready for anything and I was just about to prove that even more. Once I was in the ring I let all my anger out. I'd been out the joint for six months now. I guess before I went away I wasn't really ready for anything because I didn't see all the shadows in the corner that were after me._

_When I did notice them I couldn't tell where they were coming from, but then they came so fast that I just let it happen until I snapped. And when I got out of prison my heart told me to continue fighting but my head said run away from this life, start fresh, forget everything. But it was too late to do that. I grew angry. I was like a bomb about to detonate and I was close to running everything around me. So I found outlets, but throwing a few punches in this stupid ring seemed to be helping the most. But it was just another cog in the machine, I wasn't made for this scene. I baited my opponent with a right hook before I took a swing for real. It felt amazing when I landed the punch._

_Then she walked in. Letty Ortiz, the girl down the street who offered to wait for me. The girl I was sure I loved, the one who kept me grounded, but the lust that consumed me when I first saw her again six months ago threatened to ruin it all._

I'll confess that this is probably the worst I've ever felt, I'm a mess and I know that for damn sure. I sat on the bed looking around when something caught my eye. Something blue, something familiar, but when I snapped my head round to look at the corner of the room where I'd seen it, it was gone, whatever it was. I felt uneasy but I tried not to think about it as I looked forward again.

_"I'm no good for you, Let," I told her harshly. I've told her more than once that I was a bad boy, I didn't play nice and that meant I couldn't be her. She was sixteen after all, my Dad would have my balls if he knew I was even thinking about going after her._

_But typical Letty, she just rolled her eyes at me. There was something in the air tonight which made it so much harder for me to say no to her. In no way was she throwing herself at me but she was definitely making her feelings clear._

_"I can feel it and so can you," she told me._

_"And the family would have my balls if I acted on it."_

_She leaned in closer, her lips close to my ear. "It takes two."_

_I gulped. Do I do the right thing or the wrong thing? These thoughts were plagued with sins, I knew that, I was way too old for her, this was wrong. But all my thoughts were turning and making it hard to concentrate. Maybe I needed a drink, something to concentrate because right now all I could smell was her. Her perfume smelt so sweet, it invaded my senses and then she stepped away from me, grin in place. I loved her smile, but like a vampire you knew that that smile was a trick, a way to make you comfortable before she struck._

_Lord have mercy on me, this wasn't good. I stepped away from her and stepped back into my car, ready for my race. The engine revved beneath the hood and I forced myself to maintain my control. I hit the road and I wished I would just keep driving until I had full control. It takes everything I have to stop the car and get out at the end of the track. Surprisingly my skin is cool to the touch and I feel myself smirking at the easy win, but then she's there again. She's close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off of her. She certainly will be the death of me. Even if I loved her, in this moment I was courting lust (we both were) and that would no doubt bring catastrophe._

_She invited me to walk with her before we have to go. She grabbed my hand before I could argue and I'm dragged away from the crowd who were whistling. I gulped as we stopped near her car, she leaned against it and pulled me closer to her. I felt my lips being pulled to hers of their own accord, I was about to bite the apple, the original sin. I wished there and then that I could just dance with the devil in the pale moonlight, because that was what she was. She was tricky and smart when she wanted to be, Letty could wrap anyone around her little finger, she could get anything she wanted and it was working on me._

_My temperature rose, I could feel the beads of sweat start to roll down the skin under my shirt. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. Hell, I could be her Prince, drive her around in a red corvette. People might get angry but we could ride that storm and douse the flames of their anger in cheap champagne. I thought racing did it but this high was the best. She blows air between her lips, as if she was smoking a cigarette and the cold air makes my lips tingle. If I had the guts I would run now but it seems that this has only just begun._

I'm thrown from my thoughts when I spot the same blue again. I close my eyes again. I'm crazy, a mess, I've confessed that but when I open my eyes I see it again. When I turn my head to look at the corner I almost fall off my bed. _Letty_. The devil herself, stood in the corner and she's in a blue dress. All my thoughts are on me in an instant, and seemingly so is she, like a hot pursuit.

I goton my knees in front of her, it's easy to see that I'm completely out of my mind. She stayed in her corner but she kept looking at me. I reached my hand out to her, but she slowly faded. I really am going mad. But she was there and now she's going again. Any good luck I may have had was gone.

_I cursed myself as I hit my head against the wall. Letty was sixteen when that spark appeared between us. I'd told myself no but eventually I gave in, I was twenty, it was stupid but I took the risk only to be put in jail five months after we started dating. She said she'd wait, and for those two years she did. Six months after I still kept my distance, not being in that place to love her like I should but now it was nine months after I got out and I knew she wouldn't wait much longer. A voice inside my head was screaming "last call" and I knew that. This was my last chance. I should just jump off the edge and cross that line again, I've been down this road too many times._

_I'm a bad boy and I don't place nice, even prison didn't change that but maybe I could change tonight, for her. I didn't want to be a casualty again, I knew the difference between sex and intimacy so why was I confusing the two now? I opened my eyes and realised that I'm a prize fighter, like that day back in the ring but all this time I was looking for a prize. Letty was it. But that overwhelming feeling of wrongness put me off. I'm not saying that Letty wasn't the perfect prize for me, but not tonight, not like this._

_Girls are made of sugar and spice, but I'm sure Letty was more spice than sugar and I already had my demons, my vices, so tonight I'd face them. I'll beat my own devil tonight, give him the boot before I'd face my other devil. Once I'd dealt with my inner demons then maybe I could handle Letty in her full glory, the girl with better tricks than the devil himself and I was going to make her all mine._

I opened my eyes, still focused on the now empty corner. I lowered my still outstretched arm and stood. I turned around and headed towards the door. I knew what I was going to do. I had a new inner devil that I had to deal with. **So cheers, salute, give 'em the boot.**

* * *

_I'm oddly proud of this one, so if you read it I would honestly love to know what you thought, whether it was good or bad. :)_

_R&R  
_


	9. I Won't Give Up

**A/N: **_Firstly, someone asked me about doing an Adele song, I'm not really a fan of her so I can't promise it will get done, but I'll put it on the list to do just in case :) So for now, some Dotty love!_

* * *

_"Well, I won't give up on us  
Even if the skies get rough  
I'm giving you all my love  
I'm still looking up."  
_- **I Won't Give Up, Jason Mraz**

* * *

I got out of the car and looked around. I scanned the beach carefully knowing that this was the first place she would go. It had to be. We'd been back in LA for a short time. Her house was sold years ago, as was the garage and the diner, and who's to know if our old friends were even still here. So that left the house and the beach. And after storming out of the house it only made sense for her to go to the beach.

Eventually through the darkness I spotted a figure sitting in the sand. I locked the car before making my way down onto the sand. I figured being back here would be hard for all of us and we'd all deal with it in our own ways. Brian and Mia were a family now, they had little Lucy to keep them together, to help them cope. Admittedly having Letty back, a niece and my freedom kept me grounded but what did Letty have? Really, what did she have to keep her sane?

I ventured closer to her and carefully sat down beside her. She was staring out at the water, not even acknowledging that I was there. I was happy that we'd made up enough to be in each other's company, to say that we might even be friends, but it killed me that she wasn't _mine_. But I was never going to rush her. I wasn't that cruel. But seeing her stare out at the water like she had nothing… It killed me to think that I couldn't take it away like I used to do. That she felt so alone.

She finally turned to look at me. My eyes went straight to hers. They were so dark. I noticed she was starting to cry and it made them sparkle. I reached out and placed my hand to the side of her face, gently stroking her cheek with my thumb. I watched as her eyes suddenly brightened and the tears became less so, it was like watching the sun rise. I felt my breathing hitch when I realised what they were telling me, that she was lost, upset, but me being there made it a little bit better.

She smiled slightly before looking away and staring up at the stars. I felt her hand crawl through the sand to grasp mine. I looked from the stars to her and realised how far she'd actually come. It was a miracle that she was here right now after everything that had happened in recent times. It scared me before to see how much she'd grown up, how much she'd matured since the last time I saw her.

Well I won't give up on us. My eyes went back to the skies, and I knew that no matter how rough they got I wouldn't give up, I'd give her all my love and in time maybe she'd return it. I decided to be hopeful, to keep looking up because I wasn't about to give up, not on her.

"Dom," she finally said.

I felt my breathing become strangled and my heart rate pick up. "Yes?"

"I know I've been impossible," she sighed. It sounded like she was trying not to cry again. "And I'm so sorry."

I shook my head and made her look at me. "No you're not, and even if you were, don't ever be sorry. I'm never going to give up on us, on you. And if you ever need some space to sort things out or just to be on your own… I'll still be here."

"You will?" she asked hopefully, that little light coming back to her eyes.

I nodded. "I'll be here, patiently waiting for you to come back, and I'll want to know about all the things you find."

She watched me curiously. I turned around properly so I was facing her and she did the same. Watching the way her hair blew in the wind, the way her eyes kept that little bit of hope in them and the way she seemed to calm at my words… She was my star. I was never naïve, I knew we had a lot to learn but God knows we're worth it, we wouldn't have found each other again if we weren't and there was no way on Earth that I was ever going to give up. Not this time.

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly as she shuffled closer. Our legs were crossed so our knees bumped into each other. "I walked away, Dom. I never told you I was alive. I messed up."

"I bet it wasn't easy though," I told her softly. "And I don't wanna be someone who could walk away from what we had so easily. I probably didn't help matters, so I'm here to stay and this time I will make all the difference that I can."

"We both have our differences now," she said thoughtfully as she watched the sand. "Maybe we could use those to help us, work with them."

I nodded, she was right, we had a lot at stake this time around. It would help if we used our similarities _and _differences to get through this time around. If we used everything we learned. "We'll be better at it this time around," I told her. "We're friends again, that's something. I don't know about you, but I intend for this to work."

"I intend for it too," she told me. "Like the first time. Back then we were so sure we'd break but we didn't. We had to learn how to make it work but I guess that will help now…"

"I won't give up on us," I told her again. "We'll do things right this time, I promise."

"I'm still looking up," she told me quietly. "I'm hoping this will be it for us, the real thing, so I won't give up on us either."

I pulled her to me. I outstretched my legs and moved her so she was straddling me. I kept my hands on her to stop her from falling. I felt her hands on my shoulders as she her eyes watched my chest intently.

"We're tough enough for this," I whispered to her. "We've been through too much shit to be weak now. We'll survive this, we won't let it get ruined this time."

She finally brought her eyes up to meet mine. "We've still got a lot to learn, Dom."

"You're alive, Letty, I never thought I'd get that," I told her honestly. "And I love you."

"I love you too," she admitted.

I gulped at the revelation. It had been so long since I'd heard her say that. It made my whole world seem so much brighter, it made everything seem a lot more bearable. It definitely made me more confident in thinking we're worth it, because we were. After everything we were thrown back together, we were loved and there was no way I was giving up on us. I was going to continue looking up.

* * *

_R&R_


	10. Heart Attack

_"You make me glow, but I cover up  
Won't let it show, so I'm  
Puttin' my defences up  
'Cause I don't wanna fall in love  
If I ever did that  
I think I'd have a heart attack."  
_**- Heart Attack, Demi Lovato**

* * *

Two years or so ago and this wouldn't be happening to me. I never cared, wasn't affected, it was fine. I'm not even sure what love was back then, not outside of family anyway. There were plenty of guys around, nice guys, different guys, dangerous guys, a range but I never said yes to the right guy. Whenever I did say yes they were all wrong, a mistake. I never had trouble getting what I wanted, love was just something I never wanted. There was only _him_ but naturally I wasn't quite good enough. Age difference, practically family, little sister's best friend… The list is endless.

But even then, back then was easier. I didn't care, I could play boys so easily, have my fun without taking it too far. But generally it all didn't phase me. I wasn't worried about what they saw, what they thought just so long as I was happy. But a few changes made it so much easier to snap their attention. So I could do it, no problems there. But none of them were ever right, I was never exactly one to want a relationship so bad.

But then I came home. Two years away in the D.R. Before he would just smile at me then ruffle my hair before calling me "kid" but he doesn't do that now. He smiles but he definitely doesn't call me kid. And is it self-centred to think he's staring at me sometimes?

"Earth to Let."

I snap out of it, eyes dart up to Dom. He's standing in front of me as I lean against my car. "Did you say something?"

"You try to give a girl a compliment and she ain't even listening."

"Sorry." I shake my head to clear it. "A compliment?"

He nods. "Yeah, I said you looked good. Real pretty, beautiful even."

I put my eyes to the floor again, not wanting him to see me blush. "Oh, thanks…" Seen as my eyes are downwards I scan over myself. I have made an effort this time. I figure Dom changing meant I had a chance. I never thought it would happen but he makes me want to make an effort. I'm sixteen after all, it's allowed to happen. And I'm not racing so it won't hurt. I really look like such a girl and I want to act like one, at least tonight, especially with the party. Fuck, I'd even painted my nails and put on high heels. And he's still here, watching me, pushing the skanks away, my perfect opportunity but I'm way too nervous, I can't even reach out and hold his hand.

"I mean, I think you look just as good in your regular clothes," he shrugs. "Hell, you look amazing when you're working on your car."

It was like my whole world lit up. He thought I looked good when I was just being my complete self, when I wasn't even trying. I can feel the blush deepen as my breath hitches and my heartbeat gets faster. Is it possible to feel this good? I keep my head down as he steps closer. I'm not sure if I want him to know he has quite that effect on me. I wasn't about to show it just yet. This is different, too unfamiliar and it's _Dom_. So I put my defences up. I take deep breathes and when I feel the heat leave me body I look up. He is smiling at me and I will myself not to blush now I'm looking at him. I don't want to fall in love, I'm not ready, if I ever did that I'd probably have a heart attack. Who wouldn't? Letty Ortiz in love?

He steps back and heads towards his car as the crowd starts to disperse. I get into mine, trying my hardest to stay calm. This is like anything else. I concentrate on the road as hard as possible on the way back to the house. And as soon as I get there I head straight to the back and pick up a Corona. I smile at the guys who come closer. That's happened a lot since I _grew up_ and came home to LA. I lean into a couple of them, talk and even enjoy myself some. It's easy, no sweat but then as I leave the room I bump into Dom and I become paralyzed. It happens every single time, I would try to be myself but it just comes out wrong every time, sort of like a cry for help.

"You OK there?" he asks, face filled with amusement.

_It's not fair_, I thought. "Yes."

"Really?" he chuckles. "You look a little flustered."

I groan. Pain's more trouble than love is worth. And I realise I've stopped breathing, he's too close. I gasp for air. Honestly, him being that close always felt good and it would never change but it hurt. I'm not ready to fall in love just yet and I know for damn sure he isn't either. This was too quick.

But here I am. Wanting to act like a girl, painted nails and wearing perfume for _him_. I'm nervous as hell and all I want to do is reach out and hold his hand. Even now I can feel the glow he creates in me start to creep up, but of course I cover it, like always. Defences go straight up and I try to calm my heart down.

"Let… You sure you're OK?" That amusement on his face has gone now, he looks concerned.

My breathing won't help me out, it's hitched and my lungs are burning. I'd rather be numb. This is all my fault. I was so sure I was over this but now if anything my feelings are stronger. He steps closer to me and I freak. I dart around him and run. I was flying way too close to dangerous and I was bursting into flames.

"Letty?"

I've stopped running. I'm on the front lawn now and he's behind me. I close my eyes and take a breath, the fresh air doing me good. He wraps his arms around me but I shrug them off.

"What are you running from?" he asks curiously

"You."

"I don't want you to run away from me," he breathes out, awfully close to my neck as well.

"I don't want to fall in love, Dom."

"Then let's not fall in love tonight."

I turn around to face him. He puts his arms around me and I don't push them off. "Excuse me?" I question.

"Let's talk, dance, drink…" he shrugs. "Tomorrow we'll talk again, we'll work. And we'll continue that pattern until you do want to."

I gulp. That familiar glow coming back to me again. I pray my breathing will calm and I won't feel this nervous around him now. I mean, how could I after that? But I put my defences up. The only indication I give him is a nod then I walk back into the house before I have a heart attack.

* * *

_R&R_


	11. Tattoo V1

**A/N: **_Ah, so, I had major Mia/Vince feels as I was listening to this. However, parts of the song reminded me of Letty/Dom too, so I plan to do a second version about them which I hope to get up later today or tomorrow. :)_

Also, I guess the **M rating **comes into this one.

* * *

_"If I live every moment  
Won't change any moment  
__Still a part of me and you  
__I will never regret you  
__Still the memory of you  
__Marks everything I do  
Just like a tattoo  
__I'll always have you"  
_**- Tattoo, Jordin Sparks**

Version 1.

* * *

I headed down the corridor towards Vince's room. I stopped outside of his door and cursed myself as I remembered those few nights that happened over a couple of weeks before Dad's death. I was seventeen and he was twenty. I'd come home from school in tears because my then boyfriend had broken up with me after I refused to have sex with him, he even took good measure by insulting the fact that I was still a virgin. That wasn't why I'd said no to him, it just honestly didn't feel right. Vince was the only one home and we sat up in my room. He listened to me as I spoke about it and then _comforted _me. That night I lost my virginity.

I could tell Vince was worried the morning after but he never said anything, I was thankful for that but I knew it would probably never happen again. Only I was wrong. It happened a handful of times after that but we made it clear that we'd stop, we just never did. I wasn't sure if he loved me but I kept going back for more, I knew it was like playing with fire but I couldn't help it. Then Dad's race came around… After he died V and I really did stop. There was no way we could really get into a relationship after that, not with how everyone was feeling. Then Dom went to prison and any chance of us being together for real went completely out of the window.

The pain was much worse than day I came back from school, only this time he wasn't there to comfort me. It hurt to admit the truth, what we'd done might have felt great but we went about it the wrong way. We should have been open about it all in the first place instead of hiding. Now, stood outside of his door I felt trapped. Dom had gotten out of prison a couple of months ago and Vince came to me. Dom was different and Vince was scared, which was the scariest part because Vince was never scared. He kissed me before walking away, I never did follow up on that kiss but it got me thinking, I needed to end this now but I felt like something was trying to get out of me. Part of me felt like I was wrong for ending this while the other part thought I was wrong for even starting it. I knew I had to move on and leave him behind. At least in that sense. We could only be friends, family.

I finally opened the door and stepped in. He sat on the bed, legs stretched out and back against the headboard. I smiled a little at the car magazine in his hands. Twenty-two years old and he still read them. In fact, he was so intrigued by it that he didn't even see me. I closed the door a little harder than need be and his eyes snapped up to mine.

"Hey," he grinned, throwing the magazine to the floor.

I didn't want to waste any time but that grin put me off completely. I took him in as I tried to remember why I'd come in there in the first place. He looked so perfect sat there and I could only remember all the good things I felt when we were together.

"Fuck it," I groaned.

He eyed me suspiciously as I walked closer to him. He was still smiling but it instantly dropped away as I moved to straddle him. Well it had been two months since he kissed me and I'd avoided him as best as I could since. I leaned in and kissed him as he opened his mouth to say something. As he kissed me back the new direction I wanted to take with us completely fell away.

"Mia." I'd give him credit, even he looked disappointed as he pulled away from me. "What is this?"

"I'm sick of playing these games," I mumbled. "Pretending nothing happened and that it was just a bit of fun back then."

"It was definitely more than just a bit of fun," he said sternly.

"Then why were we so afraid to tell them all?" I questioned. "Even before Dad died?"

He shrugged. "My biggest worry was Dom, you know for sure he would have threw me out, hell me might have even killed me."

"He would have made me choose," I sighed.

"What would you have chosen?" he asked curiously.

"I never would have taken sides," I shrugged. "I would have fought to keep you both. He's my brother and you…"

"Me?"

"That night," I started. "When I came home I remember going straight to the bathroom. And when I looked in the mirror I thought I wasn't good enough but then you convinced me otherwise. And it kills me now to think that I could stop this, that I could admit I was wrong. I've changed my mind so many times about this decision but I have to be strong and leave you behind, forget this happened, because we can't do this again."

"Then why are you here?" he asked. "What am I to you that would make you fight to keep me in your life? Even against Dom…"

"I guess I loved you once," I sighed. "You looked after me but it was more than that."

"And you don't feel like that anymore?" he asked sadly.

I shook my head. "You're part of me I guess, I can't really forget, y'know? I think part of me will always love you."

"Then what's stopping us?" When I looked away he lifted my chin up to look at him. "Because it's no secret that I feel something for you, if we both feel something then why can't we? We could do things properly this time around."

"I don't know," I mumbled. "I guess it doesn't feel right."

"You guess?" He brought his lips to mine briefly as he rubbed himself against me. I bit his bottom lip to stop myself from reacting to how good it felt. He smiled against my lips as he moved away to look at me. "Did _that_ feel wrong?"

"Vince…"

"Did it?" he questioned. "In any sense of the word, did it feel _wrong_?"

"No," I admitted. "It felt right, like we should be doing this, that I should be doing this with you."

His lips were on mine before I could even think to take it back. He moved us round so that now he was on top. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he ground into me. I bit my lip and tried once again to keep any noise of agreement inside but a low moan finally escaped.

I felt him grin against my lips before he kissed slowly down my neck. He only pulled away for a brief moment to lift my top up above my head and unhook my bra. I groaned and almost hit him as he kissed along my chest but stayed deliberately away from my nipples. He must have caught my annoyance though because without warning he was paying a considerable bit of attention to them.

I whimpered in protest as he pulled away from me again. I glared up at him as he looked down at me, smirking. I reached between us and fiddled with his belt buckle. He tensed up for a moment but eventually moved to stand up. I knelt on the edge of the bed and lifted his top up over his head. I reached back down to unbuckle and unbutton his jeans as he did the same to mine. We both wiggled out of them, underwear and all.

He teasingly kissed at me neck as he ran his fingers up and down my sides. I reached out to do the same to him but I found myself being lifted up and laid back down. He hovered above me for a moment before I felt his body slowly press down against mine. I bit down on his shoulder and wrapped my legs around him. He seemed to get the picture as he pulled away and watched me carefully.

There was a sharp intake of breath from both of us as he slowly entered me. From the way he cursed under his breath I knew he wouldn't last long, to be honest I wasn't sure I would either, but I felt myself smiling, it made me happy. He either _really_ wanted this or he hadn't had any action in a while. I honestly prayed that if it was one it would be the latter.

"Mia," he breathed out.

"I know," I whispered softly, kissing his jaw as I did. "It's OK."

He moved his lips to cover mine as he thrust in and out at a slow, deliberate pace. His lips were constantly locked with mine, and when they weren't they were hovered nearby. I gripped his shoulders tightly as I tried to concentrate on my breathing. I could feel him tense and his breathing became more jagged. I wrapped my legs around his waist, encouraging him to pick up speed, which he complied.

After a few sharp thrusts, a string of swear words, loud moans and a few slips of my name tumbled from his mouth as he came suddenly. I followed soon after with a similar response. He kissed my face repeatedly before rolling away from me and onto his back. I tried to catch my breath as he pulled me to him. I curled up against his side, head rested on his chest.

We laid in silence for a few minutes. I traced patterns on his chest with my finger as he drew patterns on my hip with his.

"Vince…" I started as I continued to draw patterns.

"Don't," he said quickly. "Please."

I felt my stomach clench as he begged. "We have to talk about this."

"Are you still considering only being friends?" he asked. I didn't respond, just kept drawing patterns. "In that case we're not talking about this now, we're going to lie here, at least for a little bit, please give me that time."

"You don't know I'm going to decide that," I told him.

"But there's a chance you will," he sighed, brushing his lip lightly against my hair.

"V…" I moved to look up at him. "You were the one who first said we had to stop this."

"Yeah, because I thought it was wrong," he mumbled. "I didn't realise we felt the same way about each other."

I watched him as he seemed to think of something to say. I kept quiet, not wanting to interrupt his though process. I became aware that his grip on me got tighter. I kissed his chest a few time, hoping it would calm him down some.

"Do you regret what just happened?"

"No…"

His eyes came down to mine. "But?"

"If I do want this to be the end this kind of makes it harder, doesn't it?"

He nodded. "I don't blame you for wanting to move on."

"It's not about that," I protested. "We never had a chance to talk about this all properly before. First there was Dad and then Dom, it was just never right, y'know? And with the state of things now… This… I don't know if it would help anything, it might cause more problems."

He shrugged. "OK, so moving on may not be your exact reason now but you will eventually. I promise I won't bug you too much about it now, but I'm not going to be able to move on Mia, you have to know that."

"You make it sound like it's easy for me," I snapped. "I wouldn't change any of what happened and I certainly won't regret it. I probably won't ever be able to forget either. Whether you like it or not, I probably won't be able to forget about you."

"So I guess no matter what we're stuck with each other?" he chuckled.

I nodded. He grinned a little as he moved me quickly. I let out a yelp followed by a low sigh as he laid me on his chest. I looked up at him. He reached up to kiss me once.

"We'll talk about this properly tomorrow," he said sternly. "One more night won't harm us."

He kissed me once more and I thought it over. The idea of one more night did sound good. Sigh. Remember when I had self control and some determination? Yeah, me neither. I nodded slightly at him as I buried my head in his neck, his arms coming up to wrap around me.

"V?"

"I thought we agreed tomorrow," he mumbled.

"We did…" He stayed silent so I continued on. "I'll always have you. No matter what we decide tomorrow. Right?"

He was silent for a moment and I was scared of what his answer might be.

"Always," he grumbled, already sounding sleepy. "Just like a tattoo."

* * *

_R&R_


	12. Tattoo V2

**A/N: **_I don't like the Dotty one as much as the Vince/Mia one but they wouldn't leave me alone and they demanded their own fic for this song so I gave it to them! :)_

* * *

_"I can't waste time so give it a moment  
I realize, nothing's broken  
No need to worry 'bout everything I've done  
Live every second like it was my last one."  
_**- Tattoo, Jordin Sparks**

**Version 2**

* * *

For a long time I wasn't sure if Dom actually loved me or not, even when we first started dating. I knew I loved him, I was one hundred percent sure about that but I was completely clueless about his feelings. It didn't stop me from going back for more though. Even after seeing those skanks all over him, seeing him get a little too close for comfort. It was like playing with fire but I just couldn't stop. I just prayed I'd get my answers soon.

Although as time went on I wasn't sure I'd ever get the answers I wanted. It seemed that things were never going to change. It was like every time he hurt me the truth felt a little stranger. In no way did I think he was completely lying to me, he was trying to be honest but it felt like the same thing over and over. I even considered walking away and just being on my own for a while.

I never thought I'd even consider it. Hell, to me it was miracle that Dom even looked twice at me but I considered it. I was so close to admitting I was wrong in choosing him, that I should move on and just forget about him. And I came so close to ending it all. It was on one particular night. We were at one of the parties. The usual skank cornered him and they danced for a bit. I knew I couldn't waste time, I'd have to end it before he could tell me how sorry he was again. But then the moment changed. She got a little too adventurous with her hands and he pushed her off him before walking away.

I realised then that we weren't broken, Dom was trying to change, it just might take some time. There was no need to worry about us or the choices I made. I headed into the kitchen, looking for him, leaving that new direction behind. I found him leaning against the counter, beer in hand. He grinned as I entered. He opened his mouth to say something but he kept quiet as I flung my arms around him and held him tightly. He chuckled a little as he brought his arms up to wrap around me.

When I stepped back he gave me a questioning look but I just grinned. I was so sick of playing games. I seemed to be taking sides, did I pretend like everything was fine and give it a chance or did I just give up? I was glad I didn't pick the latter. It killed to think that I could have mustered up the strength to leave him behind. Watching him watch me I realised that I wouldn't change a single moment, that I didn't regret any of it. Sure, life would have been easier without all those skanks around but the stuff in the between was amazing. They were a small factor in the grand scheme of things and he was changing. I could see that now. He was mine, a part of me and from the way he looked at me I could tell he thought the same thing. I finally had my answer.

"Letty."

I snapped out of my thoughts. I was sat cross-legged on the hood of Dom's car, staring out at the sight from the lookout. Dom stood in front of me, moving his head a little to try and catch my attention.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I asked if you were OK," he chuckled. "But you were away with the fairies."

"Yeah, sorry," I sighed. "I was just thinking."

"About?" he asked curiously, hands rested on my knees.

"About the day I almost ended things with you." His eyebrows shot up at that. He knew I was going to, I'd admitted it to him at some point, but it clearly wasn't what he thought I would be thinking about. "It was the same day I realised you loved me."

"I know what night you're talking about," he mused. "You didn't think I loved you before then?"

"I wasn't sure," I admitted. "But I never forgot it after that day."

"Good," he grinned. "Because I loved you from day one."

I smiled a little and rested my forehead against his chest. "Tell me something that I don't know, something to do with us."

"It sort of links to that night," he started. "…I almost got your name tattooed on my chest, right over my heart."

I pulled completely away from him. I prodded his chest a little. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Well when you told me that you were thinking of leaving me I got scared," he admitted. "It's why I seemed to change so quickly, it sort of hit me what I could lose, y'know? I thought if I got the tattoo then I could never forget, even after you left me, it wouldn't really be over."

"So you decided not to get it after you realised I was sticking around?"

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and kissed me softly. "I didn't need that sort of reminder, not when I have the real thing."

I moved onto my knees. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his came to wrap around my hips. I kept my lips as close to his as possible without actually touching him. "You do realise you're stuck with me for life now, right?"

He moved in that little bit closer and pressed his lips to mine, he mumbled quietly against them, "always, baby."

* * *

_R&R_


	13. Ain't No Sunshine

**A/N: **_This song has been stuck in my head for days now, so have some Dotty out of it :)_

* * *

_"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone  
It's not warm when she's away.  
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone  
And she's always gone too long  
Anytime she goes away."  
_**- Ain't No Sunshine, Bill Withers**

* * *

**Aged 14**

I finally managed to pin Vince to the floor. It had taken much longer due to all of his cheating, but oh no, to him it wasn't cheating, of course it wasn't. Mia was sat off on the grass to the side. I couldn't blame her for not being interested. She was only eight, more interested in her dolls still and not two fourteen year old boys who liked to wrestle. Seemingly on the hard ground outside, instead of the soft carpet in doors. But we'd been put on "watch Mia" duty while Dad did housework so the floor outside was a good a place as any seen as she was adamant to play with her dolls on the grass. Plus we weren't purely looking after Mia because like always she had- Hey, wait. Where's Letty?

I looked around for ages, normally I paid no attention because if I was honest, she was annoying as hell but she was always here. So why wasn't she? Vince seemed to notice my discomfort so he stopped taunting me and went to check on Mia. I rushed into the house once I was sure the garden was clear and once I couldn't find her inside I went to Dad.

"What's wrong?" Dad asked as he dried the dishes. "You ran through here so fast…"

"Where's Letty?"

"Excuse me?"

I rubbed my head as I sat at the table. "Letty. Where is she?"

"Dom," he said carefully, putting the plate and towel down before coming to sit down. "She left, remember?"

I felt my eyes go wide. No, no I did not remember that. "She left?"

He nodded. "Yeah, her parents came round with her day before last, you and Vince were playing video games for most of the night… We had Chinese."

Well, I remembered the food and the games. "Where'd she go?"

"They had to move to San Francisco for a few months," he explained. "Do you really not remember?"

"So they'll be back?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Dom, we spoke about this, you said goodbye and everything."

"Oh… Yeah," I shrugged.

I got up from the table quickly and rushed upstairs. I threw Mia's door open and searched the room. Letty left some things in here because she was always staying over and Mia liked her being in here, there was only two years between them so it fitted. But those things were gone. That top she never seemed to have off, her spare toothbrush, everything.

I stumbled towards my room in a daze. I had been so worked up in my game with V that I hadn't said goodbye properly. Sure she was annoying but she was there for Mia and it was kind of odd that she wasn't there. Looking out of the window I saw how dull the sky seemed to be. It was the height of summer and it was boiling outside, it didn't make sense. I suddenly felt cold as I sat down on the bed. I was a horrible person.

**Aged 18**

I'd promised myself I'd be a little nicer to Letty when she got back from San Francisco. I'd still tease her to no end but I'd take a little bit more notice of her. Which I'd kept. I didn't want her running off again but that didn't stop it.

"What do you mean they're moving again?" I yelled.

"Dominic," Dad groaned. "This decision was made weeks ago."

"It was?"

"Between them it was," he nodded. "And they're going."

"Where this time?"

"The D.R."

"What?" I screamed. "That's too far!"

"I didn't think you and Letty got on _that_ well," he sighed. "I thought she was too young for you to be seen with?"

Well, fourteen really was too young for me to be seen with but I never said that. It wasn't all that bad once Letty got her attitude out, she was the perfect balance of mature and immature. "That doesn't matter," I snarled. "They can't move. She can't move. Dad, do something." The last bit came out as a plea.

"I can't," he sighed. "They've got a place and everything. It's happening."

"How long for?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"For good."

And it happened all over again. The lack of sunshine, that cold feeling and the sense that things were going to be _very_ painful from this point on.

**Aged 20**

I wondered for ages how long this time would be. They moved to the D.R. with the idea of staying there for good. As the first year passed I lost all hope of her coming back. It felt like it was never really sunny anymore, or maybe I never noticed. I felt so miserable all the time and I couldn't for the life of me work it out, I just felt so _cold_. I thought six months in San Francisco was too long but now she was gone for longer with no possible way of knowing when she was getting back.

Vince kept Mia amused so I didn't have to worry about that, and Dad was always busy so I was always lost to think about it. I knew she probably had no choice in leaving but maybe if I'd paid more attention she might have asked to stay with us. Unless she did but they said no. It was all confusing and I just felt shut out. It constantly felt like something was missing.

But then it all changed.

"Hello?"

My head shot up at the sound. Could it be? As I got up off the couch she came into the living room. I couldn't help but whistle when I saw her. Two years had done wonders to her. She looked amazing, it was hard to believe she was only sixteen. She clicked her tongue to get my attention and to both our surprises I rushed forward and scooped her up into my arms in a hug.

"Hey, Dom," she managed to breathe out. "This was… More than I was expecting."

I pulled away to look at her. I so badly wanted to say hi but the words wouldn't form so I just pulled her back into a hug. Having her against me made me feel something again, the smell of hair sent a rush of heat through me, instantly warming me up. And as her breath brushed across my neck and my lips pressed to the top of her head I noticed the strong beams of light pouring in through the window. I squeezed her tightly, making a silent promise that she was never to leave me again.

* * *

_R&R_


	14. Be Still

**A/N: **_This song actually reminds me of Criminal Minds because that's when I first heard it (on the episide "The Company") but I was thinking of Dotty at the same time this song was stuck in my head, so here we go. :)_

* * *

_"Be still and know that I'm with you_  
_Be still and know that I am here_  
_Be still and know that I'm with you_  
_Be still, be still, and know."  
_**- Be Still, The Fray**

* * *

I looked around the small room that was the Ortiz's living room. About a week ago Letty's Dad had been involved in an accident and died in hospital during surgery. Her mother wasn't used to having to deal with things on her own so she was a little helpless with shock and emotion right now, forcing Letty to deal on her own. Luckily after a couple of days my Dad stepped in and took a run of things. He made sure bills were paid and the house was stocked with supplies as well as helping Maria go through the funeral arrangements, every so often getting Letty involved.

But I could see that Letty loathed it. She would just mutter or nod her agreement before disappearing to be on her own. Mia cried a lot, I figured a lot of it was down to the fact that her best friend was hurting and she couldn't do anything about it. Vince and I felt just as bad, we didn't know what to do either. Mom died when Mia and I were young so it was hard for us to remember, and Vince never really had parents so we were all a little lost on what to say to her. We were too afraid to say the wrong thing so mostly we kept quiet.

When I realised that Letty wasn't in the room with us. I looked around the first floor, coming up empty and I got the same result when I checked upstairs. I didn't want to worry anyone so I only asked Vince if he'd seen her. He said he had, but that was almost an hour ago when we arrived here from the funeral. I checked outside, more frantic now, she was in no frame of mind to be on her own but she was nowhere to be found. I thought about the beach, maybe the park a couple of blocks away but when I got to the front door my eyes fell on my house.

I took off running towards it. Fumbling with my keys to unlock the door. I searched downstairs before I ran upstairs. I stopped at the spare room, the one Letty normally slept in but it was empty. As was the bathroom, Vince's room and Mia's room. I tried to work out for ages where she might be but then my room came to mind. She wouldn't would she? I stepped closer to it, slowly this time and carefully opened the door.

Lying there was Letty. She was curled up like a ball, back facing me. I closed the door quietly behind me as I stepped into the room. The way her body shook told me that she was still crying. I wondered why she'd come in here. Sure we got on, like the best of friends, but we annoyed the hell out of each other too. I figured she would go to Mia's room or her own room.

Quietly I made my way over to the bed. I got in slowly beside her so not to scare her. She seemingly stilled as I laid behind her and brought her back against my chest, wrapping me arms around her. She hiccuped a couple of times but the crying seemed to stop. I squeezed tightly and she wriggled back a little more into me.

"Sorry," she whispered. "Your bed is bigger... And... I tried sleeping in mine and Mia's but I didn't feel any better."

"I like how you didn't even try V's room."

She chuckled a little. "So I'm OK to be in here?"

I brushed my lips over the top of her head. "Of course. How are you doing?"

"He's gone," she whispered.

I nodded against her. "I know... I'm sorry."

"I don't feel sad, just _empty_."

"It'll get easier," I told her.

"No it won't," she mumbled. "Mom doesn't want to be here anymore. She wants to leave."

"Are you going with her?"

"She's my Mom, I should go," she whispered. "What's here anyway? Mia, but she's young, she'll move on."

"I'm here."

"You think I'm annoying most of the time. It wouldn't make much of a difference to you if I was here or not," she countered before wriggling away with me. I propped myself up on my elbow as she sat on the edge of the bed. She picked her shoes up off of the floor and carefully put them. "I need to go, Mom wants to leave as soon as possible so I might not see you again for a while."

As she got up off of the bed I reached out and grabbed her back. She fell onto the bed and I wrapped my arms around her, keeping her back against my chest. "Don't runaway."

"I have no one anymore," she said sadly. "Mr T sure but I really don't want another Dad figure right now, and I'm too afraid of upsetting Mia. And Mom isn't really Mom at the moment."

"Do you not listen?" I smiled against her hair. "I said I was here."

"For how long?"

"I'll be with you for as long as you need," I promised.

"Even when I'm like this?"

"Yes," I told her. "Upset, scared, unsure, I'm here."

"Really?"

"_Letty_."

"I haven't been sleeping."

I rubbed her arm as I squeezed her with my other arm. "I'll be there. So if anything happens and you need me, no matter what the time, you call me and I'll be there. Or if you're staying round you come in here."

"Dom..."

"No arguments," I said sternly. "Every time you think you're being silly remember me telling you that I'll be there, _then_ call me and tell me what's wrong."

She nodded slowly, an indication that she had heard me and understood. She rolled over and snuggled against my chest, my arms staying wrapped around her. Feeling her heart beating and her breath on my neck made me realise how much I liked her being this close. I knew it wouldn't be easy and that no doubt Letty would be in a worse state than she had been in the past week, and I prayed that she really would be here in the morning, or at least still in LA. I hadn't been sure on what to say but now all I wanted to do was help her. I wanted her to stay here where she was meant to be, to know there were good things here too and that she wasn't alone.

"I'm here, Let," I whispered as my lips brushed her forehead. "I promise."

* * *

_R&R_


	15. One More Night

_**A/N: **__I kind of realised that most of the time I don't really focus on the religious side of the Toretto family beyond the fact that they say grace before meals. So I thought I'd slip something in here to give it a shot. Also, I'm not stating Dom and Letty's age only that in my mind they're both under the age of twenty, so it's up to you what age you want them to be._

* * *

_"So I cross my heart and I hope to die_  
_That I'll only stay with you one more night_  
_And I know I said it a million times_  
_But I'll only stay with you one more."  
_**- One More Night, Maroon5**

* * *

"Yeah, well you know what, Dom?" she screamed. "I hate you too!"

I slammed the door as she stormed out. I thought we fought _before _we started 'seeing' each other, but this was worse. And calling it 'seeing' each other was a bit skeptical. It was a little dysfunctional if you ask me, _we_ were a little dysfunctional. I lost count of how many times we'd fought and who cracked first each time. It was getting sickening and I knew we couldn't continue like this. We weren't exactly in a relationship so I didn't understand why I didn't just walk away and give up on this whole thing.

But I knew walking away was no option. The only reason we weren't officially a couple is that I was afraid my dad would string me up, and Letty for some unknown reason didn't seem that bothered about making what we had official. I pushed myself up off of my bed and headed down the hall to the spare room where Letty slept. I knocked quietly on the door, but when no response came I moved inside.

"Let."

She was curled up on the bed, back facing me. "Fuck off."

"I didn't mean it, alright?" When she didn't respond I moved over to sit on the bed. "I don't hate you."

"Yeah, well I hate you."

"C'mon, Let," I urged. "You know you do nothing but make me love you."

"Then why say it?"

"It just came out," I admitted. "I stop thinking whenever I'm with you, and I know how wrong this is, whatever _this_ is but I keep on crawling back to you."

"You're not helping your argument any," she muttered.

"You have to admit there's more negatives than positives."

"I don't think your dad would mind that much," she shrugged.

"What about your mom?" She rolled over and made a face. "Exactly. And you didn't seem so thrilled when we discussed a relationship anyway."

"Well, I wasn't," she mumbled. "I guess I'm still not."

"And I can probably guess why not." My history, the skanks and so on. "So there's no point in discussing this."

"It's late," she sighed. "I'm surprised we didn't wake anyone up but seen as we didn't can you lie here?"

I made the sign of the cross with a promise that this would be the last night. I'd say it a million times but this really would be the last time. I told myself that over and over as I crawled into bed behind her. As I got comfy she rolled over completely and pressed her body up against mine. My arms instinctively wrapped around her as she kissed my chest. I tried my hardest to keep a loose grip and as much distance between us but every time she kissed a part of me or her body moved just a little I felt myself responding.

I tried to tell her to stop but then her lips were on mine, and she just tasted so good that I kissed her back with more force. I could just tell that I'd regret this in the morning, that I'd hate myself, but there was lack of oxygen to my brain that was stopping me from thinking straight and only allowing me to focus on the satisfied feeling I was getting from this. I thought about how I'd made a promise that this would be the last night, but as I pulled away she pulled me right back. I lost all hope of ending this as her lips attacked my neck.

_Forgive me father for I have sinned._

* * *

__

_R&R_


	16. A Thousand Years

**A/N: **_Kind of surprised about this one considering what the song normally reminds me of, but for the past few days (since May 20th) I haven't had any wifi so I spent that time thinking of updates for my fics and while I was listening to this song an image of Letty in a wedding dress popped into my head._

**Also I haven't seen Fast Six yet, **I'm going to see it Monday hopefully**.**

* * *

_"Heart beats fast  
Colors and promises  
How to be brave?  
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall  
But watching you stand alone?  
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow  
..._

_Time stands still  
__Beauty in all she is  
__I will be brave  
__I will not let anything take away  
__What's standing in front of me  
__Every breath  
__Every hour has come to this."  
_**- A Thousand Years, Christina Perri**

* * *

Letty's POV

I looked around the small room we were in. Mia was rushing around, fixing Gisele's hair and make-up, while also trying to check her own. I watched the two of them nervously. It was hard to think of a way to approach such a topic especially at such short a time. I looked over at the door, my stomach tightened and breathing became alarmingly hard.

"I can't do this," I blurted out.

Mia instantly turned away from what she was doing to look at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean one of you is going to have to go out there and tell them the wedding is off!"

"Not it," Gisele declared instantly.

Mia glared at her briefly before turning to me. "What do you mean you're calling the wedding off?"

"I can't do this," I complained. "It's all too much."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the door. As she pulled the door open a little I tried to get away but she refused to let my hand go. "Just look."

"Why?" I demanded. But when she didn't answer I looked out of the small door. There wasn't a huge crowd but there was a fair few people. I felt my stomach tighten as I noted all the bright colours.

"Look at Dom then tell me you can't do this."

My eyes ran up the room 'til they fell on Dom. I felt worse looking at him. My heart beat faster as I remembered the promise we made to make it work this time, especially after everything that had happened to us. But now that I thought about it I wasn't sure I could be brave enough to go through with it. For so long I had no idea who Dom was, and even when my memories came back I told myself for a while that I wouldn't fall back in love with him again.

But seeing him standing there all alone it made me think. "Where's Brian?"

"Probably keeping Jack calm until he has to do his best man duties," Mia explained.

Not really knowing how it happened my fears suddenly disappeared. I stepped away from the door and went over to the mirror. I fixed my veil before holding my bouquet of flowers, trying out a couple of poses. A knock came to the door and Mia answered it to reveal Han.

"You girls ready?" he asked, holding his arm out for me.

* * *

Dom's POV

I nervously played with my sleeves as I looked through the crowd. I tried for a while to keep my focus on Brian and Jack but it was too hard, I couldn't keep still long enough. I tried to keep my breathing even as I tapped my foot. One more step and she really would be mine forever, and this time it would stick.

"Dom."

I looked over at Brian as he put Jack down and straightened up. He pointed down the aisle and I turned to see them. Letty was walking slowly up the aisle, arm linked with Han, as music played. Gisele and Mia both walked behind, but admittedly I only had eyes for Letty. Every day that I thought she was gone forever I felt myself die a little inside and see her walk down the aisle, it was like all that lost life rushed back into me.

"Hi," she whispered as she stood in front of me.

I could hear the nervous tone in her voice. I instantly reached my hand out and grabbed hers. I squeezed it, wanting her to know that I'd always loved her and that I would continue to love her for much longer.

She seemed to get my point because she smiled and squeezed my hand back. Time seemed to stand still there and then. Seeing Letty in white was the last thing I ever thought I'd see but she really was the definition of beauty. I tried to squash down my fears as I took her in. There was no way I was letting anything take her away from me now. I realised then that every moment since the first day I met Letty was leading up to this moment.

We kept the ceremony simple so once the priest said a few typical words we moved onto the vows. It gave me my opportunity to vocally tell her how much I loved her and how I was going to continue to do so. I was able to tell her that she didn't have to be afraid anymore. And I was surprised when she told me near enough the same thing, only in her own words, and I realised then how much I had needed to hear it. I'd waited so long to find her and get her back, and I knew I would do it. It took a hell of a lot of time but here we were standing in front of an altar about to get married.

Letty's POV

I realised that all that time that I had no memories were in fact probably the worst days of my life. Not knowing was slowly killing me, and pretending not to want Dom after my memories came back killed me even more. In reality I was dying every day waiting for him, only I was far too stubborn to admit it back then. Part of me was laughing at the other half, having worked out that all this time I secretly believed (and hoped) that I would find him again.

As we placed the rings on each other's finger and the time to kiss the bride came along I bypassed his lips and brought mine right up to his ear. "I have loved you for a thousand years."

"And I'll love you for a thousand more," he whispered right back before I could continue.

* * *

_I've never done a happy Dotty like this before, it was kind of fun :')_

_R&R_


	17. Let Her Go

**A/N: **_So, I saw Fast Six today and it was amazing. I laughed, smiled and cried all the way through. :) This is set between Fast Five and Six, leaning more towards Six though. I'd say there's no spoiler in this but Fast Six did help with the inspiration, and the song of course, but I'd say you'd be fine to read even if you haven't seen Six._

* * *

_"Only know you've been high when you're feeling low  
Only hate the road when you're missin' home  
Only know you love her when you let her go  
And you let her go."  
_**- Let Her Go, Passenger**

* * *

Dom's POV

I looked out of the window from where I sat beside it. The sun was setting and the light was burning low now. Risen or set, whenever, I saw the same thing, her. I never realised how much of a high I'd been on after the Braga and Rio incidents until I settled down and started to feel low. Life was no way imperfect. I had a family but that nagging feeling that something was missing. It didn't feel like home and the family wasn't really whole. Moving on or not. I guess I didn't realise just how much I might have loved her 'til I let her go.

I tilted the glass I was holding and watched the contents swirl around the bottom of it. I hoped that I could keep this dream last. The one where my family was safe, what was left of it at least, and that I wouldn't hurt anymore people. But I of all people knew that dreams come faster than you ever expect but if you're not careful they go so fast without you even realising. I closed my eyes in thought but instantly had to snap them open when her face appeared there. I took a deep breath and sunk further into my chair, wondering if I'd ever understand why everything I touched seemed to die.

I tipped my head back and stared through the darkness at the ceiling. Once again that same old empty feeling seemed to grow. I knew for a fact that my heart ached for her and it probably shouldn't be anymore. Shouldn't these feelings have passed? Shouldn't I just remember her and smile? But as I thought of the woman in the other room, sleeping soundly, I realised that love also came around slowly. And although I was sure I loved Elena it was nothing like how I felt for Letty, something like that can slip away so quick that you can't begin to comprehend where it's gone.

In an attempt to stay awake I drank the rest of my drink and sat up straight again. I'd only see her again if I drifted off to sleep. The thing that killed me was that I couldn't touch her, that I never would be able to, that I'd never be able to keep her ever again. I tried in vain to repeatedly tell myself that I'd left her in the D.R. because I'd loved her. I always thought it was because I loved her too much. Once again I'd gotten in too deep and I'd left her alone to get in even deeper.

"Dom?"

I turned a little to face the doorway. "Hey," I whispered.

"It's late again," she said, rubbing her eyes as she walked over to me.

"I know," I nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She smiled down at me. "I do the same thing."

"The same thing?" I asked curiously.

"Think about my husband like you think about Letty."

I stood up then, and wrapped my arms around her. She instantly hugged me back and I tried to ignore the guilty feeling that began to rise up. Anything whatsoever that involved Letty Elena was supportive of and was understanding. I knew that she was in a similar situation but I felt so bad. I never showed her an ounce of support. Not like she'd shown me anyway.

"I guess you only know you love them when you let them go."

"I left her," I mumbled. "But I can't seem to let go of her properly."

She placed her hand over my heart. "Then don't. Just make some extra room."

* * *

**A/N:** _Another quick note, if people have made suggestions to me and I've said I'd do them then don't worry they're on the list to write. And if anyone else has any suggestions then don't be afraid to let me know. The only way I would consider not doing them is if I don't really like the artist or the song, but I'll always think it through before I let you guys know._

_R&R_


	18. I Need Your Love

**For McGarrett-Williams  
**_Thank you for your suggestion. I'm not sure if it was what you were expecting but I hope you, and everyone else who reads this, enjoys. Btw this is set after Fast Five but before the bit after the "fun" credits when you see a heavily pregnant Mia and Brian on the beach._

* * *

_"I need your love  
I need your time  
When everything's wrong  
You make it right  
I feel so high  
I come alive  
I need to be free."  
_**- I Need Your Love, Ellie Goulding with Calvin Harris**

* * *

Brian's POV

I stayed where I was, having been stood there since we got here and Mia had gone to put our bags in the room. After we sorted out what to do with the money we found somewhere a little more suitable to rest for the night before we decided where to go and how we were going to handle the money. The rush had worn off fairly quickly. Sure the plan had gone well but a lot had gone downhill. Hell, Vince had died. He may not be my favourite person but it still hit home. Especially when I realised that it could've been Mia and my baby. Poor kid was barely showing itself and it could've been taken.

When she came out of the room she was unaware that I was still standing there. She looked amazing, although I'm sure she'd disagree. Her jeans were dirtied slightly and although her hair was up in a ponytail a lot of it hung loose. She fanned herself a little with her top while her other hand rested on her hip. As she turned to see me a smile spread across her face. I smiled as I stepped towards her. I was barely in front of her a second when she wrapped her arms around me tightly and hugged me.

"What's wrong?" she mumbled against my chest.

"Just realised how bad things could've gone."

"We're free now," she told us. "This money makes sure of that."

She moved away to look at me. I tried to look as sure as I could as happy, but it was hard. Losing her the first time around was hard enough but it was my own fault so I dealt with it. But when she accepted me back I realised that living without her, her love, was impossible. I could never do it again. I needed her more than ever.

Suddenly her lips were on mine, and within seconds I felt a million times better. She was a professional at that, had the ability to make everything right. I could feel my senses heighten. I pulled her even closer to me, deepening the kiss.

"I need you," I mumbled against her lips.

She took my hand in hers and led me towards the bedroom without another word.

* * *

I took a deep breath as I walked pass the bedroom door. Here we are at square one again. I could see the worry in Dom's eyes when he caught onto my worries about being the Dad, but I could see the split second of anger before he understood why. I couldn't blame him, hell, I hated myself for even thinking of leaving her and the baby, even if I did think it was the right choice. And here I was worrying about it all over again. I really wasn't cut out for it. A father who wasn't there and a mother who might as well have not been either. I was a stranger to them ever since they first walked away, and things should be the same with Mia after what happened in LA but they weren't, that scared me the most.

I entered the bathroom and locked it behind me. My hands rested against the counter as I took a few deep breaths. As I looked into the mirror I noticed the fear in my eyes. It was hard to feel anything but helpless. Even before I found out about the baby I found myself constantly wanting to ask her if she still felt the same way I did. Taking a deep breath I told myself I was being stupid for even thinking that she wouldn't feel the same. After everything I did there was no way she'd take me back if she didn't feel the same.

Slowly, I made my way back into the bedroom. She was lying there, her eyes darted up to mine when I entered. She pulled back the covers and I slowly climbed in before pulling them back up around us.

"I know you worry," she whispered.

"Worry?"

"About me."

"I always worry about you," I agreed. "And the baby now too."

"You also worry about the past," she sighed. "About how things are between us now."

"I messed up pretty bad, Mia, it was my job but that shouldn't have mattered. I loved you and I should have put you first."

"I get that it was too late now, and you did tell us," she whispered but I could tell that even she wasn't entirely convinced. "Dom would have torn you limb from limb if you had tried to make things right back then. You needed to stay away. No one blames you anymore Brian."

I watched her carefully, seeing the truth behind her words. I felt that huge hole in my heart begin to close. Fortunately I was able to keep all the tears locked back as I remembered the lies I'd told since I'd met her, and how much of a waste they'd been. My eyes were open now and things were about to change. This was the cleanest slate we were ever going to get, no more lies and certainly no more wasting time.

"Tell me what you need and I'll make it better."

"I just need you to love me," I finally admitted.

"I already did, even after LA," she whispered, wriggling closer to me.

"All that time, huh?"

She nodded. "Seems I couldn't get enough of you, even when I was mad."

"I'll make everything right from now on," I promised.

"I know you will." She wrapped herself around me and pressed her lips to mine.

As her lips pressed harshly against mine and her hands brought me closer I felt that rush again. It was hard to ignore the fact that I felt more alive with Mia than I ever had in my entire life. All these years something hadn't felt quite right and now I was free. Mia and the baby were what I needed all along. When I'd started the job in LA, when I spent time in Miami, when I went back to the FBI, all along there was something missing and she was it, _they_ were it.

* * *

_R&R_


	19. Your Song

**For ****McGarrett-Williams  
**_I hope you like this like the last one :) I know you wanted it to be about Brian's mother so I kept that but I decided to do a sort of comparison between his relationship with his mother and his relationship with his son now._**_  
_**

* * *

_"And you can tell everybody  
This is your song  
It may be quite simple but  
Now that it's done  
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind  
That I put down in words  
__ How wonderful life is now you're in the world."_**_  
_****- Your Song, Ellie Goulding**

* * *

I felt my stomach tighten as I walked into the small nursery and looked into the cot. There he was sleeping soundly, a God send really that he didn't cry that much. I laughed at myself a little as I worked to untighten my stomach, being careful not to be too loud and wake him up. Ever since Jack arrived I got this strange feeling whenever I looked at him. I knew in a heartbeat that I loved him. I didn't think I could love anyone as much as I did Mia but I guess I was wrong. This was the family life I'd always wanted. I remembered when I was a boy, when it was just Mom and me. We didn't have much money, hardly any in fact but I knew if I did I would've bought us a big house so that we could both live comfortably, better than we did. But I never got that chance. I got into too much trouble and by time I graduated from the police academy she had passed away.

I brought my hand down towards Jack, stroking his cheek softly with my thumb. Whenever I looked at him I remembered all of these things about my past but just as quickly I could forget about them. He did that for me. The only one who could bring back painful memories and make them disappear in the same moment. During the birth I'd kept my worries to myself as I tried to help Mia through but they were still there, bringing me so close to bolting. My Mom probably would've been better off if she'd have walked out the first chance she got, so maybe Mia and Jack would be better too if I walked away, but then the nurse handed him to me and he opened his eyes. It was only for a split second, and they were so dark then, but they stole my breath away and I knew then that I could never really leave, that I never wanted to. I hummed quietly as I continued to stroke his cheek, remembering that day. Such a simple thing that had helped, life was definitely a lot better now he was here.

For a moment I wondered what he would do when he grew up. With the family he had following in my footsteps and being a cop would probably never happen, but would he race? Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he would go into medicine like Mia was going to do. As I wondered I found myself thinking about my past again. Until the day she died, Mom worked double shifts and it was all for low pay. Whenever she came in late, had to get up early or broke down for a moment I always thought of ways I could help. Even after all those years I could still remember the ideas I came up with. An artist of sorts? A sculptor maybe? I wasn't bad at art really and you could make a lot of money for that sort of thing. But then again, where would I get the money for the supplies? I'd noticed a travelling show come into town and one thought was to join them, I'd like to cause havoc so maybe I could mix potions. Mom wouldn't have to worry about me and I could send her money every month. I wouldn't really need all the money I'd make if I already had somewhere to stay and food to eat. I knew it probably wouldn't even bring in much. Hell, a nine year old could never a get a decent enough job to bring in good pay, but I had to do something at least, I needed to help her. But the one time I actually brought it up to her she sat me down beside her on the couch and we talked. She told me she could cope, that I shouldn't have to, that should've been my Dad's job. She'd hugged me close and when I still made protests to help she told me I could help by singing her favourite song. I never could sing but I always remembered the smile on her face.

I sighed as I watched Jack sleep, withdrawing my hand. Mom and I had fallen out when I was fifteen when I went to juvey. We made up when I went to the police academy at eighteen but it was never really the same. I couldn't listen to that favourite song of hers without feeling angry or sad. We called each other once a month and on special occasions I would drop by and be gone by time our first cups of coffee were drunk. I'd felt bad when I found out she had died, I'd gone to the funeral, a small service held by a few people she knew. I'd stayed back, made my presence unknown for as long as could. I'd gone back to the grave a few days later to really pay my respects. Right up till we broke Dom out of that prison bus I'd travelled once a month to lay some fresh flowers and lay something I'd bought for her. It always changed. It was the only day I listened to that song too.

Jack slowly started to stir, and knowing that he wasn't due a feed for another hour I started to sing it. He kept stirring and I almost laughed, couldn't blame the kid, even Mia thought I had a terrible voice but I still kept going and eventually he stopped moving. As he fell back to sleep a smile spread across his face and my heart stopped for a moment when I saw it looked just like my Mom's. As the smile slowly left his face and he became more content I started to notice more similar features between the two of them. My chest tightened as the comparisons became clearer and clearer. Once I adjusted to the shock it was kind of nice. I never got to see her one last time to tell her how wonderful she was. We didn't have the best life but we were dealt a shitty hand, I wouldn't have that for Jack, I'd make sure, there was no way I wanted my son, at nine years old, coming to me and telling me that he wanted to get a job in order to help us pay the bills. I sung the last line or two of the song before I leaned over the bars carefully to kiss his forehead.

"That's _your_ song, OK?" I whispered to him as he slept. "And you can tell everyone you want but it's _yours_ now."

He wriggled a moment before settling again and I slipped away. Taking one last look at him over my shoulder and feeling a million times better as I closed the door and headed down the hallway to Mia.

* * *

_R&R_


	20. Thank You Mom

**For Kary G  
**_You made a request, and honestly I was a little stuck, _but_ I discovered this Good Charlotte song so I did a small piece about Mia's mother, I hope you like it :)_

* * *

_"I said I thank you _  
_I'll always thank you_  
_More than you would know _  
_Than I could ever show _  
_And I love you _  
_I'll always love you _  
_There's nothing I won't do _  
_to say these words to you."_  
**- Thank You Mom, Good Charlotte**

* * *

I'd just been putting the photos we'd taken of Jack into a new photo album. Life had gotten in the way a bit at first but now that we were settled properly I had the chance to take pictures and really enjoy him growing up. Once I'd put all the photos in I put the album on shelf but not before I noticed the other albums. I pulled out the one from when I was younger and started to flick through.

Staring at them had my mind going back. I blinked as I looked around my room. I was young, maybe six or seven. My memory is clear, it's like I'm really living it again. I hear the sound of dishes clinking lightly together and the sound of singing, my Mom's voice. I wandered to the top of the stairs and listened down, hearing her sing songs of praise. I wandered down the stairs and went right up to the doorway separating the living room from the kitchen. I stood there listening to her sing. She turned around and her hand went straight to heart as she gasped. She shook her head at me and started to laugh. I remember laughing with her.

I was brought back to the present, my thoughts snapping back. I traced my finger over one of the pictures of her. I'd insisted on cleaning the dishes, I was maybe six. She had put me on a stool and stood behind me, helping me to do them. I thanked her. Something so small but I really was thankful, just didn't know how to thank her properly back then. I traced another picture of her, me on her knee as she read to me. I'd always love her. There was nothing I wouldn't do to say it to her again. I was eight when she had died, I forced myself to remember these stories, not wanting to forget, thankful that my Dad had taken so many pictures of her, of us. She really was beautiful, I thought to myself as I traced yet another picture.

Both of them had been there for me really, and Dom too. They were it for a long time. Dad was there for the harder times, the times Mom couldn't be there for but I figured she was in some way. At least that's what Dom used to tell me, although maybe it was for his benefit as well as mine. Dad raised me after she died, and then Dom after him, but really it was her that made me who I was. In fact, after Jack was born I did everything I could to keep him safe and to spend as much time with him as I could. If I was to have the same fate as my Mom I wanted more than anything for Jack to remember me.

In time what happened to her, getting sick and inevitably dying, helped me to learn the things people do. Even at the age of eight I hated everyone and everything but as acceptance hit me I learned to love God, I learned to understand that not everyone knows the truth, that life is unpredictable.

If I could thank her for all the things she'd done for me while being so far away I would. If I could tell her I loved her for making me who I was then I would. If I could tell her both these things then I would do it, but I knew that I couldn't, not really. I could say them out loud or think them but it wouldn't be the same. So I decided, I would tell them more to Jack. I'd thank him for the little things as he grew up and I'd tell him all the time that I loved him. And maybe one day he'd do the same with me.

* * *

_R&R_


	21. Two Pieces

_"There's a boy, lost his way, looking for someone to play_  
_There's a girl in the window tears rolling down her face_  
_We're only lost children, trying to find a friend_  
_Trying to find our way back home_  
_..._  
_We don't know where to go, so I'll just get lost with you_  
_We'll never fall apart, 'cause we fit together right, we fit together right_  
_These dark clouds over me, rain down and roll away_  
_We'll never fall apart, 'cause we fit together like_  
_Two pieces of a broken heart._"  
**- Two Pieces, Demi Lovato**

* * *

Dom's POV

I kicked the empty beer cans that were lined up on the porch ready to be picked up. Dad had gone to bed a while ago and I'd helped to put Mia to bed long before that. She needed the sleep, so did he but I couldn't bring myself to sleep. Today was hard for sure. I thought it was bad when Mom went to hospital, then when she died but burying her was way worse. Having to put on a brave face in front of everyone was just as bad. It's harder to do when you feel nothing but lost. Sixteen or not I was still a child, and God, Mia, only thirteen, it was horrible to even try and imagine how she must be dealing. I wandered along the grass, nudging the abandoned basketball with my foot.

My eyes darted across the street to Letty's house. All of this came at such a bad time. Honestly I would rather Mom didn't get sick but did it have to be when I knew Letty was going through so much? As soon as Mom got ill six months ago Letty refused to let me come round anymore and she hardly came to ours. I knew she stopped coming here to give us space, she and Vince would come to the garage when Dad was able to open and we set aside a day every couple of weeks where she, Vince, Mia and I would hang out and pretend like Mom was perfectly fine and things weren't spiraling out of control in our lives.

I brought my eyes up to Letty's window when I noticed the curtain twitch. They opened up and then the window. She didn't glance my way as she climbed out of the window and sat on the roof of the porch from the front door. I knew then that she was crying, that something had happened. I could just imagine the tears falling down her face, yet again. I knew she was just as lost as me, only for a different reason. We were both just trying to push pass it, and unfortunately it wasn't working so far.

Without thinking I made my way across the street. I climbed the tree next to her house, noting that she hadn't realised I was there yet. I got to the branch that was level with the porch and crawled along the branch as far as I could. She looked up, startled. Her hands instinctively came up to wipe her tears away.

"Move back and sit on your windowsill," I instructed.

She did as I said. When she was clear I threw myself at the porch roof and landed with a thud. I gripped the sides for dear life and we both stayed still, waiting. When no one from inside the house moved we both relaxed. I sat up and she sat down beside with me. We kept our backs against the house as we looked across the street at mine.

"Why are you here?"

"I thought I was going to burst," I confided. "I tried to be OK today, for Mia and my Dad at least but I feel just as lost as them. Then I saw you here and I knew you were crying."

"You knew that from all the way over there?"

"I know you, Let," I told her. "Did he hurt you?"

"She's getting just as bad as him," she whispered.

"Your Mom hurt you?" I asked in disbelief.

She shook her head. "No, but she said some things I didn't quite agree with. I opened my big mouth didn't I?"

"So then he hit you," I sighed. "Letty, whatever she said, she was wrong."

"Maybe, maybe not, it doesn't really matter anymore," she shrugged. "I'm stuck here till I graduate at least. I'm only fourteen Dom. You and Vince will be gone soon and I'm not dragging Mia into this thing."

"There's my Dad."

"No, I'm not pulling him into this either," she sighed. "I think he suspects anyway, I figured he did when he gave me a key to your place."

I nudged her slightly. "You do realise I'm going nowhere, right? V and I will probably only just graduate when that time comes. We both plan to work in the garage and take over from Dad when he decides he wants to retire."

"So you're staying here?" she asked hopefully.

I smiled and wrapped an arm around her. "Yeah, and when we can we'll get away from here for as long as you want."

"Where will we go?"

"No idea," I laughed. "So how about we just get lost together?"

"You promise we'll be OK?" she whispered, curling up against my side. "Promise that we'll never fall apart?"

"I promise," I choked out. I could never admit it to her but I was sure that we fitted together right.

"These dark clouds over me," she started softly. "They rain down and roll away when you're around."

I kissed the top of her head. "We'll never fall apart." I chickened out yet again on telling her how perfectly I thought we fitted together. We were both broken people at the moment so it only made sense that we seemed to fit together like two pieces of a broken heart.

"I have an idea of where we can go, or at least start," I said suddenly.

She looked at me expectantly. "Where?"

"It has sand," I grinned. "And I'm sure we won't feel let down there."

She looked excited, knowing exactly where I meant, the beach. "We could build sandcastles," she said thoughtfully. "I'll be the queen, you could be my king?"

She blushed and I smiled as her cheeks seem to keep getting darker and darker. It wasn't usually Letty's thing to talk about queens and kings but she did have her moments. The perfect balance really. Lost children trying to find their way home, what else could I say? "Like you even have to ask," I told her.

Letty's POV

I felt giddy as the words came out of his mouth but I couldn't rack the guilt. He buried his Mom a few hours ago and here he was comforting _me_. Telling _me_ that he would take _me_ away and keep _me_ safe, I should be the one doing that. I guess by us both going away it was helping the both of us. I twisted round so that I was in front of him. He parted his legs so I could kneel right in front of him. He watched me carefully, one hand hovering by me like he was getting ready to catch me if I fell.

I kissed him once, just a second and it warmed me up to feel him kiss me back. I know I trusted him, without even a single doubt and I know I was going to try and help him just as much as he was planning on helping me. Ever since I met him I couldn't leave him be but I didn't realise until recently how much he really did help. We definitely fitted together right. I could feel all those dark clouds rain down and fall away, and when I leaned back to look him in the eye I could see the same thing slowly happening for him.

I settled between his legs, resting my head against his chest. I could just feel sleep threatening to take over but I didn't need to sleep or dream, this was real. I touched his chest softly with my hand, drawing patterns with my fingers. Dom had always been the strong one, I stilled my hands as I thought, seeing him so lost was odd, it was easy to forget that Dom wasn't as old as he appeared to be.

"I know you probably didn't believe me before, but we will get away," he promised. "We'll go anywhere, just the two of us getting lost." I could guess by this point that he thought I had fallen to sleep. "We fit, Let. If I told myself that a couple of years ago I would have laughed, argued that you were just another sister really, but you're not. Just being on this porch, a few steps away from where I've been all day, makes me feel a million times better. I guess it's you, I didn't get to see you much today and that was half the problem. We'll never fall apart, OK? We're meant to be and I promise we'll make everything feel whole again."

I curled closer against him, making my movements slow but uncoordinated so he'd think I was just moving in my sleep. His arms tightened around me and he let out a shaky breath. I already felt better, able to ignore the way my body ached. And from the way the tension seemed to slowly leave Dom's body I knew he felt better too. I closed my eyes and this time, this time I didn't dream about running away or winning Dom over. I'd already done the latter and with him I didn't need to run away. So instead I dreamed we were lying on a beach in Mexico like none of this bad stuff had ever happened.

* * *

**A/N: **_Ha, I just realised that the last few chapters have been a little down, I guess they really have reflected my mood recently. But I have a chance to feel pretty optimistic before I get my exam results in August so I tried to give his one a sense of hope. I added the beach in Mexico at the end because the way Dom talked about it at the end of Fast and the Furious I felt like it was a recurring idea of theirs, maybe something they discussed when they were younger._

_R&R_


	22. Everything Has Changed

**minchy1211 and a Guest reviewer wanted one with Han and Gisele. And I absolutely love the pairing and came across a song I was happy enough to use. So this for you two and anyone out there who love Han and Gisele.**

* * *

_"All I know is we said "Hello"  
__So dust off your highest hopes  
__All I know is pouring rain and everything has changed  
__All I know is the new found grace  
__All my days I know your face  
__All I know since yesterday is everything has changed."  
_**- Everything Has Changed, Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran**_  
_

* * *

Gisele's POV

I stretched my body out first before I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw when I opened them was Han. I could tell he was awake, but only just. His eyes were closed, his hair tousled and his body fidgeting slightly. He was on his front, arms under his head like a pillow. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. I just took him in while he was still trying to wake himself up. We'd been through a lot of crap together and we hadn't even known each other for that long. Now all I know is that something was different than it was before. I'd felt it for a while now, something had changed, in us, in me, in him maybe. I knew I was caught thinking and staring when his eye cracked open slightly and he smiled.

Han's POV

"Hello," I whispered, feeling how groggy my voice sounded.

She only smiled but her eyes sparkled, and with the way she looked at me I could only guess that I had something to do with it. I would say things changed from the day I met her or the moment I found out what her name was but I'd be lying. It started when I was made to get Reyes' hand print but she stopped me in my tracks for a split second with a simple "Let's go, I'll drive." It was like her holding open the door to something more, and the way she waltzed up to him on that beach and just took that hand print like it was nothing let me realise that I was hers if she wanted me.

"You know," she started. "Dom tells me you're quiet, secretive."

"And what do you think?"

"I agree," she shrugged. "You close yourself off enough to protect yourself."

"I can take them all down if you want me to," I told her honestly.

Gisele's POV

I felt the butterflies form in my stomach at his words. _Butterflies_. I'd never had those before, never saw the point in falling in love but here I was doing just that. I rolled over him and straddled him, letting the covers fall and pool around my hips. I trailed my fingers over his chest, thinking. We'd finally stopped for a bit and what better time was there to make up for those lost moments? None. We were always taking flight, and while that was great and while I found out a lot about him, all of that time just made me feel like I wanted to know him better.

"Hello," he grinned, voice sounding a lot brighter now.

"Hello," I smiled back.

His eyes roamed over me and I smiled. The door was opened a long time ago for us, and we both did our fair share of keeping it open. I'd set out to make him mine, and it didn't take much, but I hadn't realised that the whole time he was making me his.

"Would you really talk to me?"

"About anything," he confirmed. His hands ran up and down my thighs. He looked to be lost in thought but eventually he spoke. "How about we spend all of today and tonight just talking?"

"At least then I don't have to worry about it all being in my mind," I laughed. "I'll actually know if these things I assume are real or not."

He rolled me off of him but pulled me right into his side. I rested my head on his shoulder as his arm wrapped around me, the covers over us just enough to keep us decent. My arm rested over his chest as his fingers drew patterns up and down it.

"Where should we start?" he mused.

"Your highest hopes?"

"To actually go to Tokyo and maybe get some answers."

"Answers?"

"I'm not sure what the question is," he mused. "But I feel that going to Tokyo is something I have to do to make things feel right."

"Does it bother you that you don't know why?"

"It bothers me that I don't know if it'll help," he admitted.

"Then dust off those high hopes," I told him, kissing his chest. "Just think of Tokyo as a holiday."

"Maybe," he sighed. "What about yours?"

"Rain."

"Excuse me?" he chuckled.

"Rain," I shrugged. "We always go somewhere hot. My highest hope is to experience pouring rain for a whole day. It used to be the military but I've done that."

He rolled over so we were both on our sides, face to face, his smirk firmly in place. "They have rain in Tokyo."

"Enough for a whole day?"

"We'll just have to find out," he shrugged. "If you want to."

I gave a small nod, not really trusting my voice. I traced his face softly with my finger. His eyes fluttered shut and I smiled. I took him in, every single bit of him. Something was different, I wasn't sure how or why but I all I knew was everything had changed.

* * *

_R&R_


	23. Kiss Me Again

_"And kiss me again underneath the moonlight.  
You're more than a friend, oh.  
I knew it from the first sight, yeah.  
Hold me, feel my heart beat.  
Put your arms around me.  
And kiss me again.  
And kiss me again."  
_**- Kiss Me Again, We Are The In Crowd feat. Alex Gaskarth**

* * *

Letty's POV

Since summer decided to hit full force Mr T suggested we spend more time outside. So Vince, Dom, Mia and I decided to buy some more water guns and water balloons so we could have a water fight. We split the filled balloons between us and we each had a small water pistol and big water gun.

I was down to my pistol and two balloons and it was just Dom and I. Vince had targeted Mia and managed to get her out with his last balloon but it was at the same time as Mia used the last of the water in her big gun. The two had gotten out of the crossfire to dry up while Dom and I finished off.

Admittedly I wasn't good with balloons, so I'd popped half of mine before I could even throw them, but Dom wasn't good with his bigger gun. The spray was bigger, shot a long distance, so he would just fire without aiming in the hopes of it hitting something but he usually missed.

I jumped from where I'd been and threw both balloons at the same time. They fell just short of their target so I ducked again just as Dom threw his balloon. It went over the top of my head, just missing it. I knew then that we were both down to our pistols. I peeked round from where I hid behind the over turned garden table that I was using as a shield. I reached out and took fire just as Dom did.

As I turned back behind the table I knew I probably had less water than he did. I had to really think this through if I wanted to win. Taking a deep breath I prepared myself for attack.

"I'm out," I lied

"Come out from behind there then!"

"You too!"

"Fine," he agreed. "On the count of three."

We both counted down to three and stood up at the same time. I watched him carefully. When his hand twitched I started to fire. But he fired too. We both got sprayed but we didn't stop. We walked towards each other, still firing. When we were close enough we circled each other still taking aim.

My gun ran out first. I dropped it and started to run but Dom grabbed me. He pulled my back against his chest and continued firing down on me. I tried to squirm away but he kept his grip on me until all the water was gone.

"Well, that was fun," he laughed as he threw the gun aside.

"No, that was unnecessary," I told him as I turned around to face him, his arms still tight around me.

"You know I've been thinking," he said softly as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Maybe we should give this a go."

"I thought we agreed that it would just end badly anyway?"

"Yeah but then I think about how I want to be able to just lie around with you," he shrugged. "We tell each other everything, so I figure we just be honest about this too."

I felt the old butterflies form deep in my stomach. I hadn't felt them around Dom since before I went to the DR, and that was a couple of years ago. Since then I was able to keep our friendship as just that no feelings involved. But now hearing that he lied and wanted to give things a shot they came rushing back. I became painfully aware of how close I was to him and how he hadn't let go like he normally would.

"It's getting dark," I whispered as I noticed the sunlight had slowly turned into moonlight.

"Perfect time for you to kiss me then."

"Oh?"

"You're more than a friend, Let," he whispered softly. "We both know that.

"No, we're _just _friends," I argued.

"I can feel your heart beating, Letty, you're lying to me." He placed my hands over his. "See, calm, because I'm being honest here."

"No," I said, wriggling out of his arms. "We better get dried off before we get sick.

* * *

I managed to avoid Dom for two weeks. Whenever we were at the garage I kept my head down or made sure that Mr T or Vince were within earshot. When we were at the house I spent more time with Mia or if Dom found an excuse to hang out with me I invited Vince along too. I'd spent a large chunk of my life loving someone who thought of me like a sister. It took me two years to get over him and now he feels something for me? I wasn't about to just let myself fall in love with all over again for nothing.

But as the two weeks came closer to an end it became more difficult. I could still slip away and involve Vince or Mia but I began to miss him and the idea really sunk in. He didn't seem to be lying. And in the two weeks that had passed we'd been to two races and three parties, none of which he flirted with any girls or led them on either. I knew he was doing it specifically to prove a point, and he was making it very clear.

I took a breath as I stepped out of the spare room in the Toretto house. I made my way down the hall towards Dom's room. The one that had to be furthest away from mine. I tip-toed quietly so I wouldn't wake anyone up and I knocked as gently as I could on the door.

"Yeah?"

I eased the door open and slipped inside. Dom sat up straight in bed, the covers falling off the top half of his body. He gave me a questioning look and as he went to open his mouth but I edged over to the bed. He closed it in favour of watching me carefully. I pulled the covers back and climbed in. I stuck to my side of bed, lying on my side with my back to him. He wriggled up against me, his body wrapping around mine.

"I wasn't really expecting this," he admitted. "I figured I'd be the one crawling into your arms."

"I didn't crawl into your arms, just your bed," I defended. "You could've kept to your side of the bed."

"Look, I can't deny how I feel anymore Let, I've felt it for too damn long," he whispered into my hair.

I closed my eyes and tried to keep my heart beat at a regular rhythm. "I can't stop thinking about you."

"Couldn't admit that early?"

I cracked a smile. "I couldn't bare to lose again to you."

"Well you just did." He rolled me over to face him. "And now you're stuck with me."

His face was barely an inch from mine. I felt my heart beat faster as my eyes darted between his eyes and his lips. He must have noticed because that signature smirk of his slowly started to form.

"You know, it's dark out," he commented. "You could still give me that kiss you ran out on."

"Because we're more than friends?"

"I guess I knew it from the start," he shrugged. "Just too stupid to take much notice or do anything about it."

I placed my hand over his heart, it was normal and he didn't seem like he was lying. He wrapped his arms around me even more and pulled me in even closer. His lips pressed to mine, but only lightly, a feather touch.

"I can't let you go this time," he told me. "Biggest mistake of my life."

"You're talking like I'm gonna run away or something."

"You're not?"

"No," I whispered, eyes darting down.

When the bed rocked slightly I looked up. He was leaning up on his elbow. There was a light glow behind him that seemed to slowly disappear as he leaned in closer. His lips edged closer to mine and this time I let him kiss me properly.

* * *

_R&R_


	24. You and Me

**A/N: **_This song actually reminds me of Clark and Lana from Smallville, I'm pretty sure it was in the episode where they had their school prom or something. So as well as the song I guess that episode of Smallville kind of inspired this. Also, for the purposes of this songfic, Letty Vince and Dom are all the same age._

* * *

_"What day is it? And in what month?  
This clock never seemed so alive  
I can't keep up and I can't back down  
I've been losing so much time  
'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all other people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you."  
_**- You and Me, Lifehouse**

* * *

Dom's POV

As I waited for Vince and Letty to come downstairs it really did hit me how much I'd missed. For so long the days just blended into one and then so did the months. At first I blamed it on Mom dying so suddenly but then I got passed that. Then I blamed the parties and the racing but Vince and Letty weren't affected like me. I just couldn't work it out, in fact I didn't notice till the two of them, Mia and my Dad all spoke to me. I'd lost so much time but I couldn't just back down and let it keep happening but then at the same time I also felt like I couldn't keep up anymore. I didn't really know what to do about the whole situation. But Vince convinced me to go prom, even Letty agreed to go if I did. Mia even took me shopping for a suit.

I glanced up from my thoughts when I heard the stairs creak. Vince came down first in a similar suit to mine. My eyes found Letty at the back. She wore a powder blue, shimmery dress that went down to her knees. There was a band around her waist. Below it the dress flared out slightly. There was one thick strap on her left shoulder with little ruffles on it. I just couldn't tear my eyes away but she was out of the door so quick my view was taken from me.

* * *

I stood to the side, drink in hand while Vince talked to one of the cheerleaders. I watched Letty as she danced with one of her friends. If I didn't know the guy I would've been angry but I did, and I knew he had his eye on someone else. He all but blurted it out when I confronted him about hanging around with Letty so much. She seemed happy to have him as a friend anyway so I backed off after that.

I watched the way they danced, how she kept smiling. It became too much just to stand there and do nothing so I didn't just stand there. I made my way over to her. Riley spotted me first and gave a small nod before backing away a little. I grabbed Letty before she could work it out and spun her round to face me.

"What's this?" she asked, amusement etched on her face.

I looked around at all the people, but then there was just me and her really. "Nothing to do," I shrugged. "And it's not like we've got anything to lose by dancing with each other."

"Why me?"

"I can't keep my eyes off of you," I admitted.

"You know, that doesn't sound over-protective for once," she commented. "Sounds sort of like a compliment."

"It is…"

"You _never_ give me compliments," she pointed out. "Not like that anyway. You usually give them in a more guarded way, make a joke or something."

"Now is different."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"I know there's one big reason but I can't get it out," I sighed. "I feel like I'm tripping over my own words already."

"Dom?"

"I feel like my head's spinning," I admitted. "I don't really know where to go from here."

"You've been hard to figure out lately," she whispered. "You've been different and at first we thought we knew what it was but honestly Dom, none of us have a clue. It's just like you gave up or something."

"Maybe I did give up."

She frowned at that. She looked sad and I hated that I had caused it. But then she smiled. We kept on dancing but we started to talk about other things. She told me some of the things that her and Mia had gotten up to lately and I had to admit that it was hard not to laugh at them. She really was beautiful. I figured I'd noticed before but was just too lost to notice. As we danced I realised that it really was just her and me, she definitely knew what she was doing.

I took a risk, deciding to actually do something for a change, and kissed her. As I pulled away from her I couldn't look anywhere else but at her. She smiled up at me and it only grew as a low round of muttering started around us. I knew that we both realised it was about us. She kissed me again, it wasn't like we had to prove anything but I knew she wanted to anyway. Or rub it in at least.

I felt all the days blur into one, same with the months but this time I knew the exact reason why and I felt more alive because of it.

* * *

_R&R_


	25. Dear God

_"A lonely road, crossed another cold state line  
Miles away from those I love, purpose hard to find  
While I recall all the words you spoke to me  
Can't help but wish that I was there  
Back where I'd love to be, oh yeah."  
_**- Dear God, Avenged Sevenfold**

* * *

Dom's POV

One year in prison gone, another year to go and I was still thinking about the same things I always thought about. My family. I allowed myself to think about the journey here. A bus full of criminals down a road I'd taken many times but this time it felt lonely. I remembered the fear I had about having to cross state lines because of the news of over-crowding in most California prisons. Especially in the low-security ones that were suited for my sentence. But Lompoc seemed to sort their problem out just in time. I was still in prison but I was closer to my family than I could have been.

At first I found it hard to even find a purpose to keep going. I always had my family around me but then suddenly that was gone. Then during the visits I was left photos that I was allowed to put up in my cell. As time went on it surprised me that it was Letty's face I sought out first when I looked at the pictures. I finally found my purpose to keep going. I kept thinking back over all the words she'd said to me, trying to remember as many as possible. It got to the point that when she visited (which I only allowed her and Mia to visit once a month) I didn't want her to leave and the rest of the times I just wished she was here seen as I couldn't be where I knew I'd love to be.

Over the year that passed I found my feelings for Letty changing and I grew more protective than I was before. I'd already told Vince to keep an eye on them but if I told him to keep a closer eye he'd get suspicious. In the end I turned to the one thing I hadn't turned to in a long time, praying. Prison was the last place I expected to pray, I knew I had no right to ask for any help when it was my own fault, but I wasn't really asking for help really. I made it very clear that this was the only thing I was asking of Him. All I wanted was for Him to make sure she was safe seen as I wasn't around to do it myself.

It worked a little, helped me be at ease. Especially when each month I found out that she really was OK. I wanted to tell her the truth about how my feelings had changed but I chickened out every time. I knew she deserved better, everyone deserved that one person that was honest with them no matter what. I'd like to think I was honest, ninety percent of the time anyway, but I'd left her. I'd really just gotten to like Letty as a friend, not just Mia's friend, but my friend and then I left her. I wish I hadn't done what I'd did so that I could've stayed there with her, because honestly I'd never felt so lonely or so tired.

* * *

The same routine happened for the second year of my sentence right up until my release. I didn't tell anyone when I got out, the date had always been unsure but I kept quiet when I found out.

I walked most of the way, taking a taxi a couple of times throughout the journey, always needing to get out and walk. The road felt even lonelier leaving the prison than it had arriving, it felt almost barren. Admittedly it was pretty late so there would be less people travelling down this road but part of me figured it was just a way to prolong my stay away. But I kept on walking and before I knew it I was nearly home. I felt hungry but I knew nowhere would be open and it actually made me more eager to go home.

The closer I got the more excited I became. I thought about all the things I used to get up to with Vince, Mia and Letty before and the things I might have missed. By time I was on my street I was thinking about only the times I had with Letty. I looked through the images that had been taped up in my cell. They had been the only thing that I had to get me through, and maybe they would have to continue to do so but I hoped that things would go back to normal enough that I wouldn't need them, that I'd have the real thing.

As I reached the front door I gave another prayer. I was home now but I still felt like I wasn't really suited for the job to protect Letty properly, I needed some help. I felt like running when I realised this but the door opened before I could. Vince was there like he was ready to shout but he stopped and just stared. Mia came to investigate, poking her head around him. I considered just turning and walking with the way they stared at me, but then I heard her voice and she pushed through them.

I spent two years holding onto memories and I still felt lost. I spent so long, a lot of it on the walk home, trying to find a way to not feel like that. I'd felt like I was wasting away, and maybe it was due to the walk that probably took me half a day, maybe a whole one, but I was pretty sure it was the worry, not knowing how things would play out when I got home. But seeing her again told me to stay. I grabbed her to me, giving in to my own selfish ways.

She hugged me back instantly. It felt amazing to just hug someone again, felt even better that it was her. Just when all hope seemed to fade I realised that I worried for nothing, they wanted me here, it wasn't that they _had_ to have me here but that they _wanted _me here.

* * *

R&R


	26. Broken Strings

**A/N: **_The one where Dotty isn't perfect. It's a good thing I don't do these that often, aha._

* * *

_"Oh it tears me up  
I try to hold on, but it hurts too much  
I try to forgive, but it's not enough to make it all okay  
You can't play on broken strings  
You can't feel anything that your heart don't want to feel  
I can't tell you something that ain't real."  
_**- Broken Strings, James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado**

* * *

Letty's POV

I knocked on Vince's bedroom door. He just opened it up and let me in without a word. He sat on the bed with me and waited. I would've gone to Mia after Dom and I finished fighting but I already knew she was upset so that left Vince. I hated to put either of them in the middle but I knew he could handle it better. Maybe I was blowing this whole thing out of proportion. But I knew I was only kidding myself. She was all over him and he was all over her. Four months may not seem long to him but it felt like a milestone to me in our relationship considering.

_"__Don't go," he pleaded._

_"You expect me to sleep in here after that show I got at the party?"_

_"Look, we've both messed up before."_

_"I know, I know," I agreed. "And I apologised for what happened with Matt. We'd only been together a couple of weeks and I was feeling a little insecure. I shouldn't have kissed him but I'm not letting this slide. I let you away with kissing Tran's sister again, we called it even. But I'm not letting_ _you playing tonsil tennis with a skank slide."_

_"Please, let me hold you," he begged as I changed into my pyjamas. "This might be the final option to feel again. Make you see how sorry I am and that you still love me."_

_"It's not about love," I mumbled. "You broke me, Dom. Nothing you can do will make me feel a thing."_

_"You love me," he whispered desperately._

_"I probably still do, but it feels so untrue right now," I sighed sadly. "I'm having a hard time convincing myself. I love you. It doesn't even sound like my voice."_

_He grabbed my arm, pulling me to him. I tried to fight. It tore me up inside to be fighting him. It didn't feel right, it felt foreign. I tried to hold him back but it hurt too much and I had to let go again. I wanted to forgive him there and then but it wasn't enough. I knew it wouldn't make everything OK._

_I pulled from him then and went to Vince's room._

"I saw just before you did," Vince told me. "Otherwise I would've stopped him."

"He should've stopped himself," I mumbled, flicking one of the strings on his guitar. He must have been fiddling with it when I knocked.

"It's broken," he commented. I looked up and realised he was referring to the guitar. He picked it up and started to play. I recognised the tune but couldn't quite place it. He was just getting into it when there was an off sound, the broken string. "Doesn't work properly when it's broken."

I knew that time he was referring to Dom and I as well as the guitar. "I don't know how to feel."

"Tell anyone I think about this kind of thing and you're dead," Vince warned briefly. "If your heart doesn't want to feel it, you won't feel it."

"But he didn't mean it, I do love him, and we will be OK." I looked over at him, the guitar still on his lap. "Right?"

"I can't tell you something that might not be real."

The truth definitely hurts, but then lying was a lot worse. Maybe that was why I went to Vince. He would be honest with me no matter what the outcome might be. I laid across his bed. I couldn't really put more into my relationship, especially now that it felt like I might love Dom a little less than I did before. Vince shifted and laid down beside me, we both watched the ceiling in silence.

* * *

A week passed. I chickened out of leaving Dom. Vince and Mia made no comments like I expected, they just kept out of it. Admittedly Dom did change. He stayed away from anyone who was female at the races and parties unless they were family or close friends. Other than that I didn't really see him. I worked on cars alone at the garage and I slept back in the spare room at home. When our paths did cross Mia and/or Vince were there. The rare times we were alone it was different. We didn't talk as naturally as we did. Towards the end of the week it got to the both of us until we snapped.

"What are we even doing?" I demanded.

"Well, I'm trying to make this work."

"No, Dom," I shook my head. "We're just pretending. Our relationship might as well be a fire that we're choosing to ignore. We keep trying to push through it but there's no point."

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe it's too late," I said sadly.

"You're not even trying…"

"I am," I argued. "I'm trying so hard to hold on but it hurts. And I forgave you Dom, really I did, but it doesn't seem to be enough."

"Then tell me what to do."

"We're broken Dom," I told him. "We both know it's too late. I can't tell you what you want to hear because it's too late."

"We'll be OK," he argued.

"I know the truth hurts Dom but you know I'm right," I whispered. "I know you feel it too."

"Well I don't love you any less, so I _can't_ give up," he said sternly.

"I'm not giving up, I'm just admitting defeat," I sighed. "I love you, I do, but a relationship isn't going to work for us. Not anymore."

"If this is the last chance then just stay with me tonight," he pleaded.

I bit my lip as I looked at him. He looked hopeful and I hated to lead him on in any sense so I turned around and left the room.

* * *

_R&R_


	27. Battlefield

**#27**

**For McGarrett-Williams  
**_I'm not so good with writing Monica so admittedly I changed some bits of your suggestion but I kept it as close to what you wanted as I could._

* * *

_"Don't try to explain your mind_  
_I know what's happening here_  
_One minute it's love and suddenly_  
_It's like a battle-field_  
_One word turns into a_  
_Why is it the smallest things that tear us down_  
_My world's nothing when you're gone_  
_I'm out here without a shield_  
_Can't go back now."_  
_**- Battlefield, Jordin Sparks**_

* * *

Brian's POV

Mine and Rome's garage had a better first year than we ever expected. We had regular customers with new ones coming in every month, and there was always a range of things that needed to be done meaning that the amount we brought in varied each month but stayed at a suitable level. We had planned to close the garage when the one year mark hit but some rookie wannabe racer paid cash in hand for some big work that we just couldn't turn down. I admittedly felt like I was robbing the kid but when you're stupid enough to pay a ridiculous amount of money when you've never raced before you deserved to lose your money.

However, money or not, it didn't help that it was a Saturday. Rome spent most of his time eating or talking to any female customer that entered, leaving me to deal with the rich kid's car on his own.

"You gonna help me or not?" I muttered as I rolled out from under the car.

"You know we have those lifts you can stand under, right?" Rome questioned. "No need to be on the ground like that."

"I prefer it this way," I mumbled as I rolled back under. "Now, you gonna help?"

I kept my hands by my side while I waited for Rome's response but it never came. I rolled out a little so my face was closer to the edge of the car but was still covered. "Roman, I swear to God."

"Uh, Bri, we got company," Rome said nervously. "Well, you got company."

I muttered to myself as I rolled out completely from under the car. I set my tools down and got up. I wiped my hands on a nearby rag before turning to see who wanted me.

The very last person I expected to see standing in front of me was Monica, but that was exactly who was there. We'd gone our separate ways after the job was done but a month later she tracked me down and things started from there. We dated for two, nearly three months when it ended. I'd heard from her since but hadn't seen her. I honestly didn't know how to react.

We had ended things pretty badly. One day things were great then the next it was like world war three. I knew the exact reason why things had blown up and I didn't regret leaving her for a second. In the grand scheme of things it would probably seem small to most people, but it was big to me, huge in fact. The only thing that made the reason for leaving her seem slightly smaller to me after all this time was how odd I felt. But she really did give me no choice, she gave me the ultimatum and I just answered.

"Hey," she said quietly, keeping her distance.

"It's bookings only I'm afraid," I explained. "If you want something fixed make an appointment."

"I didn't come here for my car."

"Shame," I mumbled.

"Look, I figured we should talk probably about what happened, face to face."

"Why?" I questioned. "We haven't spoken at all in a couple of months."

"I didn't mean to create this big fight between us," she told me honestly. "And I've tried to make up for that. My goal wasn't to hurt you, I was trying to make things better for both of us in the long run. We fought for no reason, Brian."

"No reason?" I scoffed. "I was right in my argument. And I bet you any money that you thought you were right in yours, probably still do. Neither of us is going to agree with the other, and you made it perfectly clear that it was one or the other."

"It was my job, Brian!"

"Yeah, and you didn't let me forget it," I growled. "You don't get how hard that decision was, I felt caught in the middle."

"I didn't mean for that."

"Didn't mean for that?" I asked in disbelief. "You told me it was my lifestyle or you!"

"Your lifestyle consists of illegally racing cars," she said, becoming annoyed now. "I'm a cop. Jesus, Brian, imagine if you got caught, how would that look on me?"

"It wouldn't have made a difference," I shrugged. "Your job came above everything else. I did that once and it didn't turn out so well for me."

"Yeah, didn't work for me either," she sighed. "Can we please just get passed this? I'm not asking you to take me back but we could at least be friends. Tomorrow everything will be better, like nothing ever happened."

"Oh, so you can be friends with someone like me but you can't date them?"

"Brian, please."

"No," I said dismissively. "I'm not giving up my lifestyle and you obviously don't want that in your life. There's no point in either of us sacrificing what we love most. I'm sorry. I believe you when you say you didn't mean for things to get as bad as they did but it's done."

Monica didn't say another word, she just gave a small smile to Rome before leaving us to it. I checked the details of what needed to be done on the car but I could feel Rome watching me.

"Was that such a good idea? She seemed sorry."

"Thought you didn't like her."

"I didn't," Rome shrugged. "She bugged me, but still."

"I'm not going through that again," I mumbled. "She couldn't handle dating a racer why would she be able to be friends with one?"

"She does like cars and going fast."

"Yeah, it was the illegal part she didn't like."

"Well," Rome said, clapping my back. "Means you can be my wing-man tonight. That's right, brother, you and me are going out to_night_."

* * *

**A/N: **_Sigh, I don't know how I feel about it but I hope it's up to scratch._

_R&R_


	28. Angel

**SPOILERS FOR FAST SIX  
**_I'm assuming more people have seen it now but just in case. There are spoilers in this._

* * *

_"Spend all your time waiting for that second chance  
for a break that would make it okay  
there's always some reason to feel not good enough  
and it's hard at the end of the day  
I need some distraction  
oh beautiful release  
memories seep from my veins  
let me be empty, and weightless and maybe  
I'll find some peace tonight  
in the arms of the angel  
fly away from here  
from this dark cold hotel room  
and the endlessness that you fear  
you are pulled from the wreckage  
of your silent reverie  
you're in the arms of the angel  
may you find some comfort here."  
_**- Angel, Sarah McLachlan**

* * *

Han's POV

I paced the hotel room. It was dark, it was cold and it was miserable. I laughed when I realised it mirrored exactly how I felt. You only realise how bad you've done when something horrible crashes through your life. I just always sort of drifted through, avoiding the one thing I needed to do, the one place I needed to go. I was really making a mess of everything then she came along and it was like my second chance to do things right. She was the break I needed, the only thing that could make everything OK. But then in a flash she was the reason to not feel good enough. And how could I feel good enough? She was everything and more.

I kicked the trashcan that sat in the room. It hurtled across the room and crashed into the wall. I sat on the end of the bed, angrily running my hands through my hair. I needed something, a distraction. I snatched up the cigarettes that I'd bought earlier. I gently wrapped my lips around one as I lit it up. I took a deep breath and instantly felt release. I took another drag but no more. Memories flooded me. _Her _on the beach, talking about my smoking, how I was probably a forty pack a day kind of guy. I put the cigarette out and fell back onto the bed.

The twisted thing was that I wanted to feel empty but then I already did, in reality I did. I wanted to feel truly empty though. Nothing, just weightless so that I could at least get through tonight without remembering the fact that she died so I could live.

I closed my eyes carefully. I jumped ever so slightly as I imagined her arms wrapped around me, her head resting on my chest. I touched my chest and found there was nothing there. So I dropped my hand away and continued to imagine that she really was there. I felt that endlessness slowly disappear. I was pulled from the wrecked reverie I was in and put into a more comfortable one.

As I finally felt myself falling asleep she materialized in front of me, telling me I was dreaming. She was dancing ahead of me. She had a white, almost see through, dress on. It was loose on her, and blew slightly in the wind. It came down almost to her ankles. She wore bracelets on her wrist that made a slight noise whenever she moved. Her hair was loose and blew across her face slightly whenever she looked back at me.

I found myself chuckling slightly. "What are you doing?"

"Having fun!" She smiled widely at me. "Trying moving about instead of walking in a straight line, it's much more interesting."

I did as she said but I couldn't move like her. I'd never seen her like this before. She looked so happy, so free. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Every time she laughed it was like my heart being tugged. I'd never seen her this happy before. In the time we knew each other we always had people at our backs, trying to get at us. I wanted to stay in this dreamworld, it was much better than the storm that was waiting for me when I woke.

I slowly built up all these excuses to myself, I was lying to myself. I was willing to make up for everything if I could just stay here where she was happy and safe. I would make up in those places where I was no good, I would be better for her here.

She danced over to me and stopped right in front of me. "What are you thinking about?"

"How much I want to stay here," I told her. "How much I'm willing to do to get that."

"It won't make any difference," she whispered to me, placing her hands lightly on my chest. "This is the last and only time you can escape, Han. Maybe I'll still be here when you fall asleep but you can't stay here, you're going to have to wake up and face it all."

"I'm crazy," I sighed. "But I'd rather believe in this madness. It tastes so sweet and I don't want it to end."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, carefully brushing her lips over mine.

"You're bringing me to my knees here," I whispered against her lips.

As she wrapped her arms around me in a hug I woke up. I sat forward carefully. I could still feel the haze of my dream as I got to my feet and looked around. Oddly enough I felt a little stronger. I grabbed my bag and put in the things I'd pulled out earlier. Still feeling warm from my dream I moved over towards the door. Without even a glance back I left the hotel room. I continued to hold onto my dream long enough to think up a plan.

By time I was out of the hotel room I felt more sure, less miserable and I knew exactly what I was going to do next. I was going to Tokyo.

* * *

_R&R_


	29. Misery Business

_"I waited eight long months,_  
_She finally set him free._  
_I told him I couldn't lie he was the only one for me._  
_Two weeks we caught on fire,_  
_She's got it out for me,_  
_But I wear the biggest smile._  
_Whoa, I never meant to brag._  
_But I got him where I want him now._  
_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_  
_To steal it all away from you now._  
_But God does it feel so good,_  
_'Cause I got him where I want him now._  
_And if you could then you know you would._  
_'Cause God it just feels so..._  
_It just feels so good."  
_**- Misery Business, Paramore.**

* * *

Letty's POV

I glanced up at the door to my apartment as it clicked up. My heart sank when the boys walked in. It was meant to be my night with Dom but he wasn't among them. Of course he wasn't. We spent more and more time together when I started living with the Toretto's, but when I moved out to get my own place Dom and I had a designated day every month where no matter what we would do something, just the two of us. The last time we had our day was eight months ago when he started dating _her_.

I had to hand it to him, at least Katie wasn't quite like the other skanks who hung around the races. Sure she hung off the racers and flirted like crazy but at least she had the decency to leave something to the imagination. In fact, I'm sure it wasn't even the races they met, it was some after party where she had been dragged to. Sometimes I don't know whether to scream at her or her friends for dragging her to the party in the first place.

I think we were all amazed when Dom and her lasted for eight months. I don't think any us imagined they'd last eight days. The eight months were painful and torturous. _You should see her Let, she's amazing. Let, we had so much fun I can't wait to tell you about. Hey, I'm sorry Let I can't, maybe next time? _The same thing over and over, plans being cancelled and hearing all the details I really didn't need to know.

"He's not coming, is he?"

"He said he'd call you," Vince frowned.

I threw my phone at him. "Does it look like he has?"

He took in the fact that I was dressed and the table behind me was set before he looked through my phone. "No."

"He didn't call last time either, or the time before that," I told them as I went into the kitchen.

All three followed me. "He never said, _you_ never said."

"Did you talk to him about it?" Leon questioned.

I shook my head. "Nope, no point. The first time he said he was driving when he had to cancel, but when he stopped he forgot, or he was busy. Something like that anyway. This whole 'our day' thing is just stupid anyway."

"You guys have done it since you moved in," Jesse pointed out.

"And you did because you didn't see each other as often," Vince reminded.

"He's just found someone else now." I realised the way it sounded and it made my stomach twist.

"He doesn't need anyone else," Leon said.

"Yeah," Vince agreed, letting out a breath. "We _hate_ her."

I whipped round. "Seriously?"

"Uh-huh."

I noted the way Vince was looking passed me. I rolled my eyes and stepped aside. "Might as well have it," I said, motioning to the food. "But you need to talk to me, _now_."

"We didn't say anything because you've been so calm about it," Jesse explained.

"Yeah, even Mia hates her."

"She's nice," I said, knowing it was a lie.

"She takes up all of Dom's time," Leon explained. "He cancels things if he asks her to, she's always there _and_ she never shuts up."

That wasn't a stretch, she did talk a lot. "Why haven't you guys spoken to him?"

"We have," Vince argued, stuffing his face with the lasagna I'd made. "He got so sick of me bringing it up that he nearly punched me."

"And he told me things would get a whole lot worse than what we were saying they were if any of us complained again," Leon went on.

"She really has her claws dug in," Jesse piped up. "He won't even listen to Mia. Maybe you can try?"

"No way," I said, taking a step back and holding my hands up. "I barely see him as it is, I am not seeing him any less because I don't like _her_."

All three gave me a sympathetic look but didn't say anything. I was glad it had been them to come round rather than Mia. Although I loved her I knew she would have found it hard to keep quiet.

Although as the boys grabbed the food and dragged me into the living room with them I realised that Mia talking in my ear might have stopped me from thinking too hard about the whole thing.

Could I really say anything? She was more Dom's age, something that had always been a factor. Before the four year gap between us had made him think of me as an annoying kid until he finally got passed it, imagine what the age gap would mean if I told him I had feelings for him. _She_ also had the perfect body and she was well known by everyone in the racing scene. Granted probably not for the best reasons but she still had a lot of people on her side.

I had definitely lost my best friend to her, in my eyes this only confirmed it. I curled up against Leon's side. When I glanced up at him he raised a questioning eyebrow. I gave him a small smile in response and he only nodded before wrapping an arm around me. When Vince sat down he rested my legs over his own. Jesse was knelt in front of my TV, putting on a DVD for us to watch.

* * *

I cursed as the car I was working on failed yet again to start. My mood had been perfectly OK this morning. It had been a week since the boys had come to mine to tell me that Dom wasn't coming. I handled it surprisingly well, refraining myself from snapping. But when Dom surprised us by leaving work almost two hours early for an 'emergency' I was pissed. We knew it was for Katie when he decided to leave right after a phone call.

The boys had all kept quiet, knowing not to say anything. They had left an hour after closing time but when it came apparent that I didn't plan on leaving they just left me to it. It was closing in on ten o'clock and the garage had shut at six.

"Let?"

I stopped for a moment as I heard Dom's voice but I didn't say anything. I shut the hood of the car and put the tools away. I was by the sink when I actually hear him coming closer. His footsteps stopped not so far away as I washed my hands in the sink.

"Did you not hear me?" he questioned.

"I'm busy."

"Oh, you look real busy."

"I was until you shouted my name," I argued. "I'm guessing you want to talk and that car is already being a bitch without you talking in my ear."

"What is your problem?" he snapped.

I almost jumped but I managed to stop myself. I mumbled an apology as I dried my arms and slipped into the back room. I let the door open slightly as I pulled off my overalls. I kept on the tank top I had underneath but I pulled on my jeans that I'd taken off earlier.

"You need a new one of those," he commented, motioning to my tank top.

I noted his tone was softer so I nodded. "Was everything OK?"

"What?" he questioned, clearly confused.

I bit my tongue as I tried to respond calmly. "The emergency that got you out of work."

"Oh, that, everything was fine."

I noticed he was biting back a smile. "Oh, good. I was afraid it was something that might not be able to be sorted out seen as you didn't come back."

"Oh, no, I just knew I'd feel bad if I left, y'know?"

"Hmm," I agreed. "Well the boys stayed an extra hour and well, I've been here all day... And night."

"You didn't have to do that..."

"I did," I disagreed, motioning to a car behind him. "That one goes back to its owner tomorrow morning. It wasn't done today, even with the boys spending an extra hour here."

"Oh," he mumbled, realising that was the car he was meant to work on if he had been here. "I forgot, I thought that was the one for tomorrow."

I looked at the car behind me, the one I had struggled to work on. "That? No, that was is for a couple of days time although we may have to work hard on it before then, it's giving a lot of trouble."

"Letty, it's not just the car that's bothering you or the fact that you had to spend time on a car I should've been fixing."

"I have no idea what you're getting at," I sighed, moving passed him so I could leave.

"You were snappy from the second I walked in here," he argued. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "I guess I was just worried when you left early, you _never _leave early."

I turned in time to see him frown, he knew I was right. I had never known Dom to miss a day of work in his life. Even if he woke up ill or with a hangover he still came in, only going home early if the rest of us didn't want to get ill or Mia insisted he go home and rest.

"But it was an emergency so it's fine that you did."

I locked up and headed towards my car. As I reached it he grabbed me arm. I tried to shake him off but he was always a lot stronger than I was. Reluctantly I turn to face him, having no other choice.

He was looking at me questioningly, but I wasn't about to blurt anything out, if he wanted to know something he could ask. I shrugged away from him and leaned back against my car. I folded my arms and got comfortable as he watched me.

"The guys have an issue with Katie and so does Mia," he told me. "You've never said anything but I'm getting the feeling you do too."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because..."

I smirked as he trailed off. "Because there was no emergency. Katie called and said she missed you or that she wanted to see you so you dropped work to go to her._ And _you already know that we worked that out."

"She's my girlfriend, Letty."

"And I thought we were best friends."

He frowned at that. "We are."

"Really?" I questioned. "Because I never see you, none of us do and that says a lot considering both Vince and Mia still live with you."

"That's not true," he argued.

"You've been with her for eight months, a little over," I started. "The last three months you've cancelled our special day. You cancelled family Sundays which never happens, not ever. And you practically live at hers or you to are permantly attached at the hip."

"That's what being in love is like," he snapped, almost growling at me. "If you had ever had a decent boyfriend then maybe you would know."

I felt my hand clench up into a fist but I managed to keep it by my side. "Yes, but most people don't block everyone else out. It's not like you even try to include all of us now. You make it out like it's us or her, and Dom, she's winning."

I pushed him away from me, realising how close to tears I was. He stumbled backwards, his expression was softer but there was still a trace of anger. I tore my eyes completely away from him as I got into the car.

* * *

Another week passed but this was a bit different, unfortunately not in a good way. Apparently what I had said hadn't quite sunk in. He still spent majority of his time with her. His way of not picking was to have her round every Sunday. It did help a little. I was pleasantly surprised when he tore himself away from her to play on the PlayStation with us or even play basketball outside, but unfortunately Katie had a way of worming her way into everything.

I kept quiet. None of us complained about her again, in fact we never brought her up or talked about her unless Dom did first. Whenever that happened I slipped away, not wanting to hear any of his stories. What sadden me more was that he never seemed to notice.

A light knocking had me rolling over. All of the team had my key so who would knock? My mind went to Katie but as far as I had seen she would never willingly come to talk to any of us. I rolled off the bed and went over to the door to see who it was.

As I opened it up I was faced with Dom. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Can I come in?"

"You have a key," I reminded.

"I misplaced it," he mumbled. "So can I come in?"

"No," I deadpanned, I wasn't in the mood to hear about his issues because I knew what they might involve.

"Please," he begged. "I need to talk to you."

"What's the topic of conversation?"

"It's a mixture," he mumbled. "Please, Let, I _need _you."

My stomach did flips, flips that it hadn't done in a week, close to two. It was the desperation in his voice, but a voice in the back of my head told me that this wasn't going to be any different to recent events.

"Come in," I sighed, heading back to the living room where I sat down on the couch.

He sat down too, but on the other side of the couch. I felt miserable just looking at the space between us. Really I should be used to it by now, there was always a space between us now, only it was usually filled with Katie.

"We broke up."

My head snapped to his. "What?"

"Katie and I, we broke up."

"What happened?"

"She went away," he explained. "About three days ago, got back yesterday."

"So?" I questioned, not getting the point.

"Well, I couldn't go with her because of a whole bunch of factors. I was going to work at the garage, do extra hours but there was no work, well, nothing that needed to be done so I decided to rest at home. That's when I realised you weren't there. It was a Saturday night even without a race or a party you were always there. I realised then that how little I've seen you..."

"I did tell you this," I whispered. "I'm sure the others have to."

He dropped his head and gave a small nod. "I know," he said sadly. "And I didn't listen."

"So why did you break up with her?"

"I wasn't going to because I figured I could be with her but work on seeing you more too," I explained. "But then I realised it was just as bad with everyone else. I went to see if they wanted to do something when they told me that they were going away as well for a couple of days. Apparently they had mentioned it to me ages ago but when they really decided I wasn't around and they couldn't afford to wait."

"Yeah, I was meant to go but I opted to stay instead," I explained. "I agreed to stay so I could make sure the garage stayed up as much as possible, plus Mia and Vince were afraid you wouldn't be home that much so they wanted me to check the house every so often."

"You missed out on a holiday because of me?"

"A couple of days at the beach," I corrected.

"But you love the beach," he whispered.

I sighed, running a hand over my face. "I'm sorry that you're sad but I'm not. I'm glad you broke up with her, really, I am. I _hated_ her and so did everyone else. Sure she was nice but she always had to be the one talking and we never saw you because of her."

"I'm not sad because I broke up with her, Let." My eyes went to his. "It kind of felt like a relief when I ended things... I'm sad because I screwed things up with my family."

"You'll be forgiven."

"But do you want to forgive me?"

Why was he singling me out? "You know I will anyway."

"Letty, please," he begged, making his across the couch towards me. "Be honest, do you want to forgive me for the way I've been acting."

"I'm not sure," I admitted.

"Is it too much to ask why?" he mumbled.

"Because I thought being your friend was hard enough, but being someone you go to when you're bored is even worse."

He looked worse at first but then another meaning behind my words seemed to register. I refused to look at him as he came closer. My eyes stayed on the ground but it didn't work. His gently turned my head to look at him, tilting it back slightly. Before I knew what was happening, he kissed me.

* * *

Weeks passed since he kissed me. It had only been for a moment before he pulled away. The fact that he had come to me because he was afraid I wouldn't forgive him and then him kissing me had shocked me. _We need to talk, Dom._ II had told him, and talk we did. We spoke for a long time and I finally found the courage to tell him that he was the only one for me.

I had spent weeks feeling worse and worse but finally he was mine. From what I saw of Kate at the races I knew that even now it wasn't sitting well with her. It was clear as day that even though it had been weeks since their break ups and almost just as long since I decided to give Dom and I a chance she was out for revenge. The others were a little unnerved by it but I wore the biggest smile.

I honestly meant to keep the whole thing to myself and not talk about it. I never wanted to rub it in her face. But as she kept shouting her mouth off at the races or subtly trying (or so she thought) to get Dom back it felt so good to know that I had something she didn't.

I had begun to notice that the way Dom looked at me wasn't the way he had looked at her, not really anyway. At the races when she overheard him tell me that he loved me and couldn't live without me I realised he hadn't said he loved her when they were together. I had him now and there was no way I was losing him again.

I grinned as I sat up on the counter. She was walking over to me, trying to look all serious. Dom caught my eye but I shook my head at him. I could handle this on my own. I knew she would wait till the party where there was less people, more chance of getting me alone.

She told me that Dom and I wouldn't work, that he would come back to her and it would work. I almost laughed but I managed to refrain myself. She was comparing how long she had been with him with how long I'd been with her.  
Even when I pointed out that I had known him for years she didn't stop.

I even apologised to her, _me_. But she still didn't quit so I pretty much took it back. I told her that she was a whore, that there were millions of girls, a lot of them in this very house, who are carbon copies of her. She didn't look happy about that but I still left her standing there and made my way into the kitchen. I watched Dom as he spoke with Vince and the two of them kept an eye on Mia who was dancing with some guy. Things had gotten back to normal with everyone thankfully.

Dom looked over at me for a moment, a grin forming and his eyes lighting up. I could see it now, his dreams coming true and I was pleased to see that they didn't involve _her, _but instead they involved me.

As I made my way over to him I could feel my dreams really coming true too. He pulled me to him and kissed me. I was sick of worrying about whether he wanted me or just felt bad about all that had happened, so I pressed my lips to his harder as he lifted me up into the air.

* * *

_R&R_


	30. Dear Darlin'

**For Shortcake99**

_"Dear darlin', please excuse my writing._  
_I can't stop my hands from shaking_  
_'Cause I'm cold and alone tonight._  
_I miss you and nothing hurts like no you._  
_And no one understands what we went through._  
_It was short. It was sweet. We tried."_

**- Dear Darlin', Olly Murs**

* * *

Dom's POV

I shook my head, I was actually writing a letter. I was an 18 year old boy and I was writing a letter. An apology letter, even could be considered a love letter if you want to split hairs. What made it worse was I was writing to my 16 year old best friend whose heart I happened to break. We had a thing but I realised too late how important it was. I ended up messing up all the happiness and joy that she brought me. By time I came to my senses she and her Mom were packing up and moving to the D.R. I missed my chance.

My hand shook as I wrote and I only hoped she'd be able to read it. That was considering she read it at all. Between our break-up and her moving away she avoided me and only spoke to me when it was needed. She didn't appear heartbroken, just head strong but then I overheard Mia on the phone to her. After Letty moved she avoided my calls and didn't respond to my emails. This was my last chance. I was lonely without her and I needed her back.

I tried to explain in the letter how stupid I was and how I regretted our break-up. I told her that living without her was horrible, that it couldn't be done, I needed her in my life. I wrote down as many good times that we shared as I could, partly reminding me but also to show her that being with her did matter. I made sure to include what I'd done wrong so she'd know that I knew and understood.

What we had was short but it was sweet. It was intense and better than anything else. I prayed that my words would break through the wall she had created, and that she would know that I meant all of them. I hoped that she would understand me and forgive me. I force myself to keep writing as I reminisced about old times. I think of the places we hung out, when I snuck her into that bar one time so we could drink together. I thought about those nights curled up on the couch when my Dad was out of town and how my own emotions were mirrored in her eyes.

I poured my heart out, letting her know I was hers.

* * *

6 Months Later...

I lost all hope of winning her back. I was miserable but that was soon put on hold. I entered the kitchen. My eyes fell on a stack of letters on the table. The top one was addressed to me. My heart went into overdrive as I recognised the sharp edged writing. It was hers. I nervously reached out to open the letter I had waited six months to receive.

* * *

R&R


	31. Waiting All Night

**A/N: **_This is Letty's POV and opinion of what was mentioned in the last chapter only done with a different song. I fell in love with this song because of its music video (you should check it out, it's based on a true story). To be honest there's not much to the lyrics so I'm kind of proud I came up with this. Ha, enjoy!_

* * *

_"I've been waiting all night for you to tell me_  
_Tell me that you need me_  
_Tell me that you want me_  
_I've been waiting all night for you to tell me_  
_Tell me that you need me_  
_Tell me that you want me."  
_**- Waiting All Night, Rudimental feat. Ella Eyre**

* * *

Letty's POV

I accepted Leon's hug but ignored his sympathetic smile. I knew if I focused on it for too long I would break. I couldn't afford for that to happen now. I'd been trying to hold it together for this long. I know how sorry Leon felt for me, Jesse too and Vince had started to show some sympathy for me recently. I hadn't exactly hid how I felt very well the past few days like I had been for the past couple of months.

Leon pulled away from me and took my hand. He pulled me into the living room. He sat down on the end of the couch and pulled me with him. He tucked me into his side, protectively putting an arm around me as one of the nearby guys moved to sit on the other side of me. I turned my head towards Leon and rested my head on his shoulder.

"You could talk to him," he suggested.

"I've tried."

"I mean talk properly, no prompting or making him guess. Tell him straight up what the problem is and make him deal with it."

"He knows the problem," I sighed. "We had that discussion, remember? I don't want to sound any more needy."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Why are you sorry?" I mumbled.

"I know for a fact that V, Jess and I haven't exactly helped with this whole thing."

"What's that meant to mean?" I questioned as I pulled away from him a little.

"You know what," he mumbled. "I mean, tell me, what's your issue with Dom?"

"I never see him anymore." I shrugged, looking down at my hands that rested in my lap. "I mean, before we started dating I saw him all the time. Even when he thought I was annoying I'd see him more than I have lately. The first two weeks or so were good. I didn't see him as much as I would have liked but we did pick a hectic time to start dating with Mia's birthday and everything. But now…"

"It's like he doesn't even want to try?"

I nodded, biting my lip softly. "Yeah, every time I try to make plans he's busy or already has some. He hasn't even questioned that I've not been sleeping here as much lately."

"I'm sorry," Leon mumbled.

"It's not you, he's your friend," I told him. "It's perfectly normal for him to hang out with you guys. I spend a lot of time with Mia. But even you guys don't take up all of his time. You guys were there before, so was the garage and the races."

"Then make things the way they were before."

"I've tried, really I have but it hasn't worked. In fact, I think it's made things worse."

He pulled my back to him, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I buried my head in his chest as I curled against his side. I felt the couch dip beside us, I lifted my head and looked behind me to see Jesse. I turned so that my back was against Leon's side. His arm was around me, my head leaning against his shoulder. I drew my knees up. Jesse sat by my feet. He leaned over so that he was between my bottom half and the couch, putting his head near my stomach as he propped it up on his hand.

"Lame party anyway," he said before I could argue about him being here.

I only nodded, distracted by the fact that Vince was walking over with four Coronas in hand. Leon took his and went back to resting his arm against the arm of the chair. Jesse took his and rested it between me and him. I glared at him as the cold bottle pressed against my side. He only grinned and I shook my head as Vince handed me mine before sitting on the floor in front of us, his back against the couch.

"It's only one, don't get too used to it," he mumbled.

"Thanks, V," I whispered, putting the bottle to my lips.

I sipped slowly from my bottle as the boys talked. It amazed me the amount of girls who still came over to try and get their attention but I was even more amazed that almost all were turned down straight away. It was only at the beginning or when the boys were on a certain topic that V would allow the girls the chance to sit beside him before he broke it to them that he wasn't interested tonight.

A couple of hours passed. The party was ending, my bottle was close to finished while the boys had long ago finished theirs and moved on to new ones. I felt a bit better, they had successfully gotten me to laugh without it being forced. At least until my eyes moved around the room and fell on Dom. He was stood on the other side of the room watching us. He didn't show any emotion nor did he make a move to come near us.

I looked away first. I looked at my now empty bottle as I cradled it in my hand. The boys continued to talk. Their positions had shifted slightly. Jesse was sat up now. My legs were over his so he was sat closer to us. Leon was pretty much the same only he had turned slightly, I still sat against him and Vince had turned around to face us. His legs were stretched out in front of him. Just seeing the three of them relaxed made me feel relaxed.

The house was almost completely empty apart form a few stragglers when my eyes found Dom again. He was moving about now. Lazily walking between the living room and the kitchen. Every so often he mumbled something to one of the people who hadn't left. I knew because Mia wasn't here and we had nothing planned tomorrow that Dom wouldn't mind if people didn't leave straight away. As he switched the stereo to a lower volume his eyes met mine. Again, he made no move to come over and his face was blank. And again, I looked away first.

Leon's fingers were suddenly on my side and before I could fully understand what was happening he tickled me. I squealed and tried to roll away but I couldn't. My bottle rolled off of my lap and onto Vince's foot. He took that as an invitation for 'payback' so he too started to tickle me. I squirmed away from them and scarpered over Jesse's leg. I settled beside him and gave a triumphant smile as he put an arm around me and grinned.

"Fine." Vince shrugged. "Hide behind Jesse, we'll just get you when you least expect it."

"Yeah," Leon agreed. "It could be tomorrow, next week, maybe even next month."

"That's not fair," I argued. "There has to be a limit on that kind of thing!"

Both Leon and Vince looked at each other before saying, "nah."

"You're on your own with this one," Jesse told me as he pulled away and stood up. "I'm beat. I'll help with clear-up in the morning seeing as Mia doesn't get in till about two."

"Boys," I warned, turning to Leon and Vince.

"Don't worry, baby girl," Leon laughed. "I'm beat too."

"You're lucky that I got up early this morning," Vince added as he too got up. "_But_ we will be cleaning up some of this now."

"Aw come on," Jesse groaned as he dropped his hand from the basement door.

"Not close enough," Leon chuckled.

The three boys set on picking stuff up. I gathered some of the rubbish that was nearby and threw it into one of the black bags. If we got most of it up today then all we would have to do tomorrow was hoover and wipe down the sides.

I got up as much as I could before I knew I had to go to bed. I tied the bag up and left it by the couch to be picked up in the morning. The boys were spread out cleaning. I decided it would be better if I went straight up instead of falling asleep on my feet while trying to say goodbye.

I wasn't up in Dom's room for long when the door opened. I finished pulling on the shirt I'd brought over and turned around. Dom was there, the door closed again behind him. He didn't move over to me but this time he looked thoughtful.

"What?" I questioned.

"I've been trying to figure out all night what the hell is going on," he explained. "Vince, Jesse and Leon didn't leave your side. Then every time you looked at me there was nothing."

"I could say the same about you."

"What do you want from me?"

"We've had this conversation," I groaned.

"Yeah, you want me all to yourself."

"No," I said angrily. "I just want to see you more. Have more time where it's just the two of us."

"We see each other all the time," he argued.

"You've said," I sighed. "Maybe we've both just been a little stressed? Maybe we should go out for dinner tomorrow. Maybe that little pizza place."

"I can't tomorrow, I promised Mia I would take her shopping for some school stuff she's been going on about," he explained, and admittedly he did sound sorry. "But the next race is on a Saturday so we could go out on the Friday then we don't have to worry about anything. And maybe we could go somewhere else? We went to that pizza place last week."

I wanted so bad to tell him that it wasn't last week. It was three weeks ago at least. We hadn't been out on any sort of date since. But I kept quiet and just nodded my head. I wanted to argue with him but instead I smiled.

However when I went to head into bed he stopped me. "What?"

"Huh?" I questioned, turning to face him.

"What's wrong about what I said?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "I was just thinking, but Friday is good. If push comes to shove we can switch some things around. Maybe get lunch on Sunday or something."

"So first you complain that we never see each other and now you're willing to change plans? You can't complain day after day that we never see each other then talk about possibly having to change plans like it's nothing!"

"First of all I don't complain day after day." I sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled on my jeans from earlier, not even bothering to pull off the cotton shorts I wore to bed. "I ask you every so often if you have plans for certain days or that day. And I'm not changing anything because you're more likely to cancel than me!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that all the plans I come up with you're either too busy for or you cancel on me."

"That's not true."

"It is," I whispered. "Look when it's for work at the garage or plans that you've had for a while then I totally get it. Hell, I even get the plans you only seemed to make that day too but what I don't get is the fact that you have to cancel the same day or at the earliest the day before. I don't get why you can't set aside one day that's just for the two of us. What I don't understand is that you have time to wrap yourself up in your little fan club at the races and throw parties after all these races but you don't have five minutes to even talk to me!"

"That's what we're doing right now," he argued, motioning to the space between us.

"No, this is _arguin__g_," I corrected. "And I'm sick of this. I'm sick of us right now to be honest."

"Then go," he snapped.

I sat there for a moment, just staring at him. I stood up, picking my shoes up in one hand and my shirt from before. I had only intended to go and sleep in Mia's room but now even that wasn't far enough.

"Fine," I mumbled. "But if I go then we're over."

He looked at me for a moment, not giving anything away. "_Fine._"

I made the rest of the way to the door and he didn't stop me, not even when I left the room. As I walked down the corridor I heard him slam the door shut. That was the last straw. We were over for sure now. It was horrible to think it but it was true.

I picked up the pace as I made my way down stairs. I was almost at the front door when someone grabbed my arm. I turned to see Leon stood behind me. Vince and Jesse not too far off.

"Where are you going?" Leon asked.

"Home," I mumbled, looking at the floor.

"We'll get the camp bed and you can sleep downstairs with Jess and I," he offered. "It'll be a bit further away from Dom for tonight."

"I can't."

"Why not?" Jesse asked.

"Dom and I are over," I told them. "I told him if I left this house then we were over. All he could say was fine. So I'm going."

Vince was heading up the stairs as soon as I was done speaking. Jesse stood awkwardly to the side as Leon pulled me into him. I only let him hug me for a moment. Any longer and I would have cried, that was something that I didn't do.

I twisted away from him. Mumbling an apology before darting from the house. I slipped on my shoes and jogged across the street to my house. I unlocked the door and headed inside. I shut the door behind me and tried to calm myself down.

* * *

The next day I avoided the phone calls and texts that came through. I didn't want to talk to any of them about it. I didn't look at names, times or numbers just that I had them coming through left, right and center.

When I got downstairs and into the kitchen Mom was on the phone. It seemed serious and I felt it more so when I realised she wasn't even speaking English. I listened and translated as best as I could. She was speaking faster than I normally would. Something about a house... And flights.

"Mom?" I asked as she hung up the phone.

"Oh, Letty," she said, turning to face me. "You're here, good. I needed to talk to you about something. But first I need you to remember that nothing is finalized and you're opinion matters."

"What is it?" I questioned, getting a little afraid now.

"I was thinking about moving us to the Dominican Republic," she explained. "It's been a while since you saw your grandparents. I'm not saying it's forever but I figured we could use the break. Your friends could come over at any time and you can always come back to LA for holidays."

"I'll go."

"I mean, not all the time but I'll understand for special occasions and if you gu- You'll what?"

"I'll go," I chuckled.

"You'll go?"

"Yes," I nodded. "Look, you said I can see my friends but other than that there's not really much for me to stay for."

"Are you sure? I know it's sudden."

I patted her shoulder as I walked by her. "When were you thinking of?"

"Well grandma booked for us to go over for a few days, we were supposed to leave in two weeks," she explained. "We can leave it till later if you'd later?"

"No," I insisted. "You start making what calls you have to. I'm going to nip out for a bit but I'll start helping out as soon as I get back."

She was off her seat suddenly and hugging me. For a long time I knew my Mom wasn't exactly happy. Dad left with hardly anything to say, she worked horrible shifts and really she didn't do much else. From the way she hugged me I figured she'd wanted something like this for a long time but just wasn't sure how to bring it up. I hugged her back, thankful to have something else to deal with.

* * *

Over those two weeks we managed to get things sorted and we were packed to go. Mom was able to rent the house out while we were gone. If we came back then we would have somewhere to stay. However, as we put our cases in the car and waved the moving people on I realised that maybe having nowhere to come back to was best.

Mom got into the car as I insisted on getting the hand luggage into the back myself. I was hoisting up my backpack when I heard footsteps. I shut the door and turned to see Dom.

"Mia said you were moving," he started.

"I did call you."

"You should have come to speak to me," he argued.

"Why?" I questioned. "I never had the chance. Every time I was free and not packing for this move you would tell me that you'd call me back or catch me later."

"I didn't want to have to talk about us, about the break up," he admitted.

"Then it's your own fault, every one else at least gave me a minute to talk to them. I tried to tell you."

"It's a bit hasty, isn't it?"

"It was my Mom's idea and I agreed, she needs this more than I ado."

"Then let her go, you can stay here."

"She'll never allow it."

"Then make her," he urged. "You're being too rash. We need to sit back and talk this through, figure this mess out."

"No, Dom," I sighed. "It's been two weeks. At least I've tried to talk to you, even if it was just about this. But I am going, maybe not forever but I'm still going."

"Letty I... Please."

"You can't even say it can you?" He looked at the ground then. I made my way to him. I wrapped my arms around his middle in a brief hug. "I love you."

I pulled away and headed towards the front passenger seat.

* * *

I didn't expect much to happen while I was away. I expected to settle into a new home, start a new school and reconnect with family I hadn't seen in a long time. Getting a letter from Dom not too long after I arrived was not what I had expected. Between our break-up and us moving I avoided him admittedly as well as only talking to him when I needed to but I still made the effort to try and tell him about what was happening.

We were both being stupid in arguing just before I left but the break-up was not stupid. He was important to me, I would take time out of my day for him in a heart beat but Dom wouldn't. It took him two weeks to even talk to me properly. Letters wouldn't change that.

But I did read them. In each and every one he poured his heart out to me. He told me that he knew how I was feeling. I figured he'd overheard Mia on the phone or something seen as she was the only one I spoke honestly to about Dom. He even went so far as to say why we had broken up and what he had done wrong. I knew that was so I believed his apologies more. I wanted to but I couldn't.

The letters kept coming. Each time he said sorry. He would talk about our pasts. It was our perfect time. Before we were together or just at the start when we were good. In every one he told me how much he loved me and how sorry he was. He made it perfectly clear that he was mine and that no matter what he would make this whole thing right.

I tried to think nothing of it but the letters kept coming. At least two a week if not three. It was the six month of me being in the D.R when I decided to write him back. Against the odds he had kept up these letters. Each one the same but I noticed that he seemed to become more desperate, more unhinged. That mixed with the calls from the others I knew I should give him a chance.

_Dear Dom,_

_Attached to this letter is one return ticket to the D.R..._

* * *

_R&R_


	32. Need You Now

**A/N: **_So yeah… The pairing for this is Vince/Mia… Mainly because I just had an image of Vince (or Matt Schulze) singing this while playing guitar. And I felt Vince/Mia more when I listened to the lyrics._

* * *

_"It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now.  
Said I wouldn't call but I've lost all control and I need you now.  
And I don't know how I can do without.  
I just need you now."  
_**- Need You Now, Lady Antebellum**

* * *

Vince's POV

"You sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes," I groaned, waving Leon, Jesse and Dom on. "I said I would."

"C'mon, man, you never skip on going out," Dom argued. "You're usually the one planning. I've got Letty and we're going to a strip club, I'm suffering enough."

"I'm sure you'll find that funny," Leon joined in. "Plus, this is long overdue, man. Jesse turned twenty-one last month. We're all getting old. Even Mia is eighteen now."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, grown up for sure. Just go."

"Whatever is eating you, you better sort it," Leon said, half warning, half concerned. "You've been a miserable son-of-bitch for too long now."

"Just not feeling well," I mumbled.

"Well it's the usual," Jesse told me before they all slipped out.

I sighed as the door shut. I really was miserable. Here I was sat in front of the TV, still wearing the boxers and t-shirt I'd thrown on this morning. This whole strip club things was definitely a low. First of all, women prancing around in next to nothing, then the fact that it was tradition. Dom and I first went there about three years ago to celebrate our twenty-first birthday. We had been stupid enough to go after both our birthdays, so it was a god-send when Leon and Jesse turned out to be younger than us.

We met Leon not long before his twenty-first birthday. Our way of showing him around town was to take him there for his birthday. Now it was Jesse's turn. We always teased Letty about taking her but even if we were serious it would be another two years until she was even twenty-one. I was essentially missing out on the last free pass for us all to go to the strip club without Letty or Mia judging us or complaining.

Of course there was a reason behind it. There always is. This time I just couldn't talk about it. It was supposed to be a mistake, something that was never to be mentioned again but that was completely going out the window. Working hard at the garage or just keeping busy was enough to keep my mind off of it but even now that didn't work. Everywhere I looked I was just reminded. I would remind myself of what had happened then come to my senses to find the phone in my hand and wondering what would happen if I dialed.

She was going to be the death of me. It was amazing how I could stop myself from talking to her about this when we were both home but the second she was out I just had to call her. It was a battle every single time. I used to think the flat was an amazing idea on Letty's side. It meant Leon and Jesse didn't always argue over the basement when they brought girls home, it was a place for Letty to stay when here and Dom fought, and it was a place where Mia and Letty could go when we did stuff like this, but now I hated the place. It made sure she was further away and I hated it, no matter how long it was for.

It got so bad that after a couple of hours I was paying more attention to the door than the TV. I'd drank the only two bottles of Corona in the fridge, leaving me with having to face the cabinet. We had stacks of alcoholic drinks but they rarely got used seen as we were strictly Corona people. But then I came across the bottle of Whisky, and it became just as appealing.

Again I couldn't stop thinking. Now that I'd gotten through a large amount of the bottle I was more honest with myself. I was in no way ready to blurt anything out to anyone but there was no hiding from myself, or those two weeks I spent with Mia. It happened about six months ago. Leon and Jesse were doing God knows what and Dom had taken Letty away after screwing up. Something was bothering her so I had taken her to the beach, and I rented us a room at a local hotel so we could stay for the weekend. Although a small mishap at the beach and some stupid decisions led us to staying at the beach and hotel for ten days. We only lasted four days back at home before I had to end it. Being around Dom just made me feel nothing but guilty.

It didn't go down so well with her. She stopped talking to me as much and she no longer came to me. At first it was great, I didn't have the temptation around me but then it just became unbearable. I was used to her just sweeping into my room, sitting down on the end of the bed and talking. Now she stayed away.

I found myself staring at the phone again. It was early hours of the morning, just after one, if I was right (or if tradition still held) the guys wouldn't be back till about three. It was a done deal so I snapped up the phone and dialed. It was late so I didn't expect her to pick up. But she did. Her voice was a little groggy and unsure but she picked up nonetheless.

"Mia?" I asked.

"Vince?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Are you drunk?" she asked, seeming to be a little more awake.

"Might be."

"You are," she sighed. "Aren't you meant to be out?"

"Nope, I stayed back."

"Again?"

I couldn't help but smile at the sympathetic tone. Was she worried about me? "Does it matter?"

"Yeah, the guys keep asking me why you're so miserable. They keep saying how they're asking me because we're close and V, I'm running out of things to say."

"Just tell them the truth," I muttered.

The line was dead for a moment. When she spoke, she changed the subject. "What's with the phone call?"

"I need you," I said, cutting to the chase.

"You must be more drunk than I thought."

"I'm serious," I told her. "I keep chickening out of calling you but no more."

"Stay exactly where you are, I'm coming."

Her words didn't quite hit me until she hung up. I quickly set the phone aside and got up. I moved the empty Corona bottles and Whisky bottle into the kitchen. I went upstairs as fast as I could and changed into a clean t-shirt and boxers. It was early, no point in dressing up but this was the first time she had spoken to me alone since I ended things.

I got downstairs just in time for her coming into the house. When I stepped off the last step she stopped. Her hands rested on her hips and she just shook her head at me. I ran my fingers through my hair.

"How drunk are you?"

"Not that drunk." I thought it was true but it was becoming increasingly hard to walk without feeling sick, move without wobbling a little and talking without slurring my words.

She seemed to sense my lie because she walked pass me and towards the kitchen. I followed her inside. She rolled her eyes at the bottles on the table. She threw the Corona bottles away and sealed up the Whisky bottle. It wasn't full when I took it and there was at least a quarter left so really I'd only drank half not nearly the whole bottle.

"You're going to feel like shit tomorrow," she commented, leaning against the counter, arms crossed over her chest.

"Good, saves me feeling miserable."

"Why _do _you feel miserable?"

"Why do you think?"

She shook her head, looking down. "_You_ broke it off with _me_, remember?"

"You think I could forget?" I questioned. "I'm going completely out of my mind, I have been since you stopped talking me."

"Then why didn't you just say something? I was avoiding you because I thought that was what you wanted."

"Well shit," I mumbled, moving closer so that I was stood in front of her. "Don't. I never asked you to stop talking to me, we just couldn't continue on. I was too old for you, I am too old for you. Dom would kill me."

"I'm an adult," she reminded. "It doesn't matter what Dom thinks. It never did, you're just too loyal."

"And he'd shoot me for even thinking about you like that."

She shrugged. "We weren't even gonna tell him. It was just going to be me and you, our little thing, at least until you ruined it. You and I sacrifice everything for Dom. It's not just you and him, we're friends too. You used to care about me too."

I stepped closer, breaking the distance. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer to me. She looked shocked but before she could utter a word I brought my lips to hers. She wasn't wrong. I had essentially chosen my friendship with Dom over my friendship with her, and now I'd sacrificed any chance with her for that same friendship with Dom.

She kissed me back, even if only slightly. It was clear that she was unsure but now that I'd finally grown some balls it was hard to pull away. I wrapped my arm around her to hold her close, but when I traced my tongue along her bottom lip she pulled away from me.

"I thought you didn't want to get shot," she mumbled.

"I guess it might be worth it."

"Guess?" she asked, jabbing me in the ribs. "What changed your mind?"

"I haven't been miserable," I mumbled, only just coming to the realisation myself. "I've just been blank I guess. I'd rather risk anything Dom could throw at me than just sitting here feeling absolutely nothing."

"It's late," she argued. "And you're drunk."

"So? I knew all of this before anyway."

"V, I-"

I cut her off the only way I knew how. I pressed my lips to hers. The taste of whisky from my own lips mixed with what tasted like honey from her own was a strange yet welcoming taste. It was different this time. I wrapped my arms tightly around her and made sure to keep the kiss soft and gentle. I wanted her to understand that I wasn't taking no for an answer but I was also willing to give her an out if that was what she truly wanted.

When I finally felt like I could pull away she just smiled. She bit her bottom lip and started to drag me back towards the living room. "I guess I better call Letty and tell her I'm not coming back."

* * *

**A/N: **_Not how I expected it to end but I wanted something happyish for the ending :3_

_Oh and **Shortcake99**, I love Kelly Clarkson so Miss Independent is definitely going on my list of songfics! :)_

_R&R_


	33. Somewhere Only We Know

** SPOILERS FOR FAST SIX  
**_So if you haven't seen it yet or don't know what happens, this will contain spoilers, or at least it should provide spoilers, ha. This is actually set after though._

I've loved this song ever since I first heard it on the radio when it was released. It's an amazing song, I even listened to the Glee version (as well as the original version) while writing this because well, Darren Criss has a gorgeous voice.

* * *

_"And if you have a minute why don't we go  
Talk about it somewhere only we know?  
This could be the end of everything  
So why don't we go  
Somewhere only we know?  
Somewhere only we know?"  
_**- Somewhere Only We Know, Keane**

* * *

Dom's POV

I took Letty's hand as I met her round the front of the car. Ever since we got her back we had been trying to help her regain her memory. We showed her some pictures and told her stories about our pasts but nothing seemed to help. The only thing I could think to do was actually show her some of the places. Maybe then she might remember something. Even the slightest thing would be alright. I could see it was frustrating her, and that resulted in me getting frustrated.

We walked along. The place had changed. The grass was wild, the plants were all over the place and what ground you could see was hard. It was pretty empty too but thankfully the small river that ran through the park hadn't dried up. I pulled her closer to it and we stopped right beside it.

"Where are we?"

I thought back before I answered her, closing my eyes to try and remember what it looked like a few years back. The ground seemed to feel a lot softer underneath my feet. I could remember the exact layout of the park and where every path used to lay. As I scanned through the memories I had of the park, I settled on one. It was a long time ago, Letty and I were sat on the river bank. I'm pretty sure it was the first time that she completely relied on me.

"It's a park," I supplied. "We used to come here in our teenage years. You loved the beach but so did Mia, we needed somewhere else, this was it."

I could see the pain in her eyes. She didn't remember. I could see she was concentrating hard, probably trying to muster up some kind of recognition.

"That's okay," I told her. "Let's walk around a bit. If it helps, the park was a little neater than this and a bit busier."

* * *

Letty's POV

I decided to go with Dom's idea. I felt bad that I couldn't remember any of this stuff. Some of it clearly meant a lot to them and what was worse was that there were people from my past that I couldn't remember. People who had died, people who had clearly made an impact on me. Losing my memory hadn't really seemed like such a bad thing after a while but then I met Dom and the others and getting my memory back was all that I wanted.

As we got to a certain part of the park Dom stopped. He seemed to recognise it more than the part we stopped at before. It's like it meant something more to him. There was tree, it looked something like a large oak but it had clearly been cut down a long time ago. Its branches were broken and crushed, It felt like every single one I looked at was judging me for not remembering.

Something did feel familiar about this place but I wasn't too sure if I should bring it up. Since the accident I would dream about a park. There were large trees, bright flowers, a flowing river and bright green grass. There was always someone in the park with me but I could never see them. I always woke up before. Something about this park reminded me of my dreams and it made me curious. Maybe they weren't dreams, maybe they were memories.

"I wish things were simpler," I sighed.

"Don't worry about it," he assured. "It's alright."

"No, it's not alright," I sighed. "If we have time, maybe we can try somewhere else."

* * *

Dom's POV

The fact that she had wanted to try somewhere else was a relief. I wasn't sure if doing all this was a bit too much. We drove for a bit and I tried to rack my mind for somewhere else. Somewhere only we know, somewhere we could be completely alone to talk. This could be the end. Maybe she just wasn't meant to get her memory back, maybe this was the start of something completely new and we would just have to deal with the fact that the past might just stay there.

As we pulled up at the old garage I knew it was the right place. We had managed to get it back. We were in the middle of refurbishing the place again. Letty spent most of her life here. It was here that I chose to see Letty as more than just the annoying girl down the road.

She walked around the place, her face giving nothing away. It was amazing to think that things used to be so simple before the heists. When we were actually living it, it felt so much more difficult. The older I got the more I wished it could just be simple again. Every day I hoped that life would at least give me a starting point. With Letty's memory I just wanted something, the smallest detail so we could take it from there.

"This feels a little familiar," she decided, stopping by where Jesse used to keep his laptop and equipment.

"That was Jesse's station," I explained. "This whole space was my dad's garage, we worked here. Leon and Vince too."

She nodded. "Did Mia?"

"She did some work here but not as much as us."

"When did I start working here?"

"Sixteen, officially."

"But I bugged someone until they let me hang out here," she said, nodding her head. "I was younger."

"You were about twelve or thirteen," I agreed, getting excited that she seemed to remember something. "And the person you kept bugging was my dad."

"Right, Mr T, you guys showed me pictures of him… Sorry I don't remember him."

"You remember _something_," I argued. "You remember fighting to get into this garage when you weren't old enough to even work here. That's a big thing because it meant so much to you."

She smiled as she came back over to me. She grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the exit. "Let's go somewhere only we know."

"That had been the original plan," I told her. "But then we ended up here."

"Then let's go somewhere else," she decided. "Doesn't matter how far we have to travel, and Dom, don't be afraid if you think it'll bring back bad memories, because I know you worry."

In that case there were a million places I could take her. Back to the D.R. where this had all really started, the highway where the heist went wrong, Mexico where I said I could see us on the beach… Painful unfortunately meant a lot of things. I had dismissed all of them. Even just going to her old house where she had last seen either of her parents. I avoided them because I was afraid if she remembered the bad stuff then she would hate me.

"Okay," I said, giving in and letting her drag me along. "Let's drive about, I'm sure I can come up with somewhere."

"Just make sure you drive fast." She looked back at me, flashing that grin I had spent so long missing.

* * *

**A/N: **_Not where I expected to end that, but I actually had fun writing it ^-^ Also, I love you guys. Thank you for the favourites, follows, reviews and event those who just read, thank you :)_

R&R


	34. Miss Independent

**For Shortcake99  
**_Sorry that it took so long, but the second I read your suggest and listened to the song I got excited. This is one of my favourite Kelly Clarkson songs, so thank you for the suggestion!_

* * *

_"Miss independent  
Miss self-sufficient  
Miss keep your distance  
Miss unafraid  
Miss out of my way  
Miss don't let a man interfere, no  
Miss on her own  
Miss almost grown  
Miss never let a man help her off her throne  
So, by keeping her heart protected  
She'd never ever feel rejected  
Little miss apprehensive  
Said ooh, she fell in love."  
_**- Miss Independent, Kelly Clarkson**

* * *

Letty's POV

I ignored the guys who shouted for me stay close. They hadn't learned yet, if I was racing then I wasn't going to stay close. Instead, like every night I raced, I checked out the competition. Except this time there was a new guy in the race. I knew for a fact that Hector wouldn't enter him so easily, he would need to be good enough or get permission from the other racers involved.

There wasn't much time to investigate further before we were preparing for the race. I ignored the way Dom and the others were looking at me as I got into my car. I drove up to the starting line. Edwin and a girl named Laura were racing too. The newbie pulled up beside me. He looked too calm and collected. Either he really was new around here or he was just cocky.

"I guess you're the one I should be worrying about," he called.

I wound my window down so I could hear him better. My eyes glanced to Laura briefly who was fidgeting. "I guess so."

"I hear you're the Queen of these streets."

I shrugged. "I'm sure you'll be able to judge for yourself."

"Does the Queen have a King?"

I looked at him to see him wink and lick his lips. I rolled my eyes and focused ahead. "There's a King if that's what you're asking."

"But are the King and Queen-"

"No," I cut him off. "So I'm sure if you're interested he'll give you a chance."

I closed my window as the usual girl in next to nothing stepped in front of the cars. As she raised her hands all four engines revved and as soon as she dropped them we were off. I didn't let the fact that I shot ahead of everyone get to my head. I concentrated on my breathing as I pushed the pedal and shifted gears.

Colour to my side caught my attention. I looked long enough to see that it was the newbie. So he was better than I expected. He smirked at me as he came level. I blew him a kiss before pushing the pedal harder and racing ahead. My focus went back to the road ahead. It was almost there, I could see it. I shifted gears again.

A flash of colour caught me again but this time I didn't look. Instead I focused ahead, only using the colour of his car as an indication of where he was. As we got closer to the finish line I could see him getting almost side by side with me. When I was sure there was no way of him catching up I floored it and seconds later I pushed my NOS button.

The flash of colour beside me disappeared, leaving me with nothing but relief. I crossed over the finish line, turning quickly so I could see the finish line. Newbie was already across, telling me he had been close behind. Laura and Edwin both crossed not long after at the same time. As soon as I got out the crowd were going wild and Hector was handing me my money.

"Robbie."

I turned to see newbie extending his hand. I didn't take it. "Letty."

"You're good but I was close on your tail," he commented. "It's about time you give that crown up while you're ahead."

I grabbed the ten dollars that had been left in my wallet once I'd paid to get in. I grinned at the weight of the forty grand in my pocket as I placed the tenner in his hand. "For being such a good sport."

I turned around and walked away before he had a chance to react. There were muffled laughter and cat calls from the crowd as I made my way to the team. Mia hugged me and Jesse high-fived me as I did. As soon as I pulled away Vince and Leon squashed me as they both hugged me. I shook my head at them as I squeezed passed to lean against Leon's car.

Dom came over then. Of course by this point he was already surrounded by his usual skanks. It was clear he was trying to ignore them for now, but I knew I couldn't. He grinned as he stopped in front of me.

"Congratulations."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Maybe it's time you slowed it down a bit now."

I rolled my eyes. "What is it with _guys_ telling me to quit this? If you're scared of being beaten then you just have to say."

"You're lucky I'm not racing tonight," he chuckled. "And that you're car has already raced."

"I think you're the lucky one."

"You'd beat her hands down," the girl on his left told him.

"Yeah, definitely," the girl on the other side agreed.

"She's not even an interesting driver."

"Hey, skank, no one asked you," I growled, stepping forward.

Dom just smirked, not even getting involved. The two of them didn't like that, they looked at each other before advancing towards me. I took one down quickly. In those heels, one push had her crumbling, leaving her with no doubt a twisted ankle.

I grabbed the other one's hair as she raised a hand. I twisted my hand and pulled her along behind me as I made my way back to Leon's car. I slammed her face into the hood of the car. Leon groaned as I lifted her head to reveal specks of blood and what looked like a tiny dent on his car. I threw her behind me and turned on my heel.

She was sat up, her hand over her nose as blood dripped through. The thought of how that would look in a few hours made me feel like I was on cloud nine. I moved over so I was between the two of them. I crouched down and looked at both of them.

"He's not the only one who owns these streets," I warned. "Next time I won't be so easy."

I got up and headed towards my car. Dom was right behind me, I could sense it. A hand on the driver's side door stopped me from getting in. I turned to see Dom blocking any form of escape.

"Bit much, weren't it?"

"No," I disagreed. "I'm sick of guy after guy telling me to quit. It's _my_ throne."

"And you're a child."

"Seventeen is hardly a child, not when I'm eighteen next week."

"Fine so you're _almost_ grown," he agreed. "And hell, I'll agree you're independent too and self-sufficient. Everyone knows when to keep their distance."

"It's not exactly rocket science to be like that," I told him. "I just don't let anyone interfere, I do my own thing."

"So you're going to be alone?" he questioned. "Letty, what's a Queen without a King?"

"A good one if you ask me."

"No, I'd say you're more of a apprehensive one."

With that he left me standing there. That was the thing about Dom, he felt he knew what was best, but what he didn't like to admit was that most of the time he was wrong.

* * *

**A few months later**

Apparently Dom isn't always wrong. Since are talk things changed. I was experiencing feelings I weren't sure were possible and others that I had tried so hard to never feel. The thing that pissed me off more was knowing that it was Dom that was causing this. At first I had no clue until I punched a skank square in the face one night just for saying his name.

I tried to play it smart and not saying anything, tell my mind and my heart that they were wrong. Not that it worked though. It certainly didn't when I spotted Dom making his way over through the crowd, no doubt about to comment on my newest win.

"I'm not quitting if that's what you're going to say."

"It wasn't."

"Well then what?"

He stepped closer, his arms wrapping around me. I opened my mouth to argue but then his lips were on mine. I tried to wriggle away but the more he kissed me the more I found myself liking it. I wrapped my arms around him as I kissed him back.

He chuckled as he pulled away. "Thought you were fine on your own."

I bit my lip as I thought about it. This whole falling in love thing couldn't be so bad, right? Why was I even so afraid? Nothing used to scare me. "I'm still my own Queen," I told him.

"What's a King without his Queen?" he questioned with a smirk.

I dipped my fingers into his pocket and pulled his car keys out. He raised a brow as he stepped back. I placed the keys in his hand. "No NOS, no one else. Straight up and back. Just you and me, just pure car, nothing else."

"And what's the reason for this impulsive race? Especially when you've not long raced your car."

"Call me lucky," I said, referring to the last part as I walked passed him to my car. "Plus, I got to see if you're at my high standard or not."

When I got to my car I looked back at him. He was grinning as he got inside. I didn't really expect him to play honest, I knew he would cheat. He wouldn't risk even the slightest possibility that I could beat him, but I didn't mind. _I _owned _him_ now and he knew it.

* * *

_R&R_


End file.
